ONLINE shopping, popular around the world, is beginning to catch on in the Kingdom. But with no major online retailer currently active in the Kingdom's markets, social media websites such as Twitter, Instagram and even SnapChat are being used to market and sell anything from make-up, perfumes, clothes and even food, Al-Riyadh daily reports. But despite the ease and comfort of shopping from your home, many say the products being sold online are often of dubious quality and since the relatively-new market is unregulated, consumers run the risk of being cheated. Fatima Al-Dawsari said she no longer buys anything from social media websites because several of her friends have had bad experiences buying what they thought were good quality clothes but ended up being poorly stitched. "Most of the time, the products you get are different from the ones shown in the photos on social media websites. It's plain and simple cheating. I personally prefer to put up with the hassle of walking to the nearby mall and buying clothes myself after trying them on to make sure they are good enough and worth the money I will be paying," she said. Citing quality issues with the clothes she bought, Najla Muhammad also described her online shopping experience as a negative one. "I ordered a product and got something completely different even though I paid a lot of money for it. Online shopping does not allow you to check the quality of the product first-hand. I was essentially cheated into paying money for a supposedly high-quality product but got the opposite," she said. Regulations Sociologist Khalid Al-Doas said that the spread of e-commerce is the natural result of the technology revolution that has changed the way people conduct business all over the world, including in the Kingdom. Social media websites are influencing people's purchasing behavior, economic trends and social values. In some cases the influence is positive and in others it is negative. "I am sure some people would rate their online shopping experience as positive and even recommend it to others. E-commerce is catching on fast in the Kingdom because most products offered online are reasonably priced. I know some accounts on social media websites that have succeeded in this business and today have hundreds of customers inside and outside the country," he said. "Selling products online is a profitable business and the startup costs are minimal. Instead of paying SR90,000 in store rent, the owner of an online business pays an average annual fee of SR1,500 for running a website. Instead of paying SR40,000 in styling and furnishing a store, website owners can pay SR4,000 to get their site designed," he said. To prevent consumers from getting cheated, online merchants must be regulated to protect the general public against all acts of commercial fraud. He urged members of the public to buy products online from well-known companies and stay away from suspicious accounts. He also called upon the concerned authorities to pass strict regulations for running online businesses with deterring penalties for all acts of commercial fraud. "Such regulations will protect the rights of consumers and ensure they get the quality and products they pay money for," he added.
