CAIRO — Online shopping websites and pages whether on Facebook or Instagram make life easier for women who especially live in the new cities of Cairo. These groups and pages sell various stuff like clothes, cosmetics, decorations and food. Online shopping doesn't always meet their expectations; many buy products by following recommendations from others who tried a specified page; many also avoid these pages because they believe that it's risk to buy anything including food without seeing them first. Salma Taha, a 31-year-old mother of two who works as a banker, said that she buys most of her needs through these Facebook pages, and that many times it works and sometimes it fails. "I search a lot of trusted sources to buy things, home decorations, pages that sell ready meals as well," she said. "I'm a mother of two and I also work as a full time employee, so it's hard for me to cook everyday, that's why I buy ready meals from Facebook pages. There are many pages and I tried many of them until I found a good one. I'm not the only woman who depends on internet shopping, there are many others especially those who live in new cities," she said. "We have now started to recommend the best pages to buy our needs from the internet. There is a page that is managed by a woman who sells organic vegetables and countryside products, I also deal with her," she said. Nesreen Ayman, a mother of three and a housewife, says that these Facebook pages and Instagram are saviors for her, because she cannot go shopping all the time. "I buy everything from these pages, like makeup and clothes, to save time from shopping for my three children from the mall. The products on these pages are cheaper as well," said Nesreen. "Not every time I get the items as shown in the pictures. Once I ordered a decoration for my son's birthday party and it wasn't as good as the one I saw in the picture. So if you shop through these pages you must find a recommended one," she said. "I usually buy home decoration for Ramadan and other occasions through these pages," she added. Gina Magdy, the owner of a shopping Facebook page, said that this online business receives a great response from women, once they trust the seller. "I started two years ago. I sell clothes and beauty products. The prices mentioned in these pages are lower than the rates in shops and the products are delivered to customers' door and sometimes we sell products that are not available in shops like clothes from luxury brands and some makeup brands that we import from US and Europe," she said. "I don't have any partners on my page. I get a good benefit from it and I'm trying to keep the same quality to always satisfy my customers," she said.
