Alec and Emina are both 19 years old and have been a couple for over a year. They met at vocational school during their commercial apprenticeships. The graduation ceremony will take place in a few weeks. The theme of the party is ‘Black and white – chic and classy’. Both of them are eager to buy new and coordinated outfits.
Alec always buys everything online: clothes, games, electronics, etc. He cannot remember the last time he went shopping in a physical, brick-and-mortar store. It is much more convenient, easier and often even cheaper to shop online, says Alec. Emina seldom buys anything online, she still prefers to go shopping with her friends. Nevertheless, Alec persuades her to buy their outfits online.
Before they shop, they look at their budgets and accounts to figure out how much money they can spend. Emina is a bit short on cash and can spend a maximum of 120 francs for a dress, shoes and accessories.
Alec, on the other hand, could afford to spend up to 250 francs on his black-and-white outfit. Together, they spend an entire evening on their smartphones browsing on various online shops and looking at various black-and-white outfits on Google and social media for inspiration. At the end of the evening, however, only Alec has ordered a suit and some shoes. With one click, the 230 francs are charged to his credit card, which he has already saved in the online shop. Emina, on the other hand, has not yet decided – because she also wants to buy shoes and jewellery, the dress she liked the most, at 109 francs, is actually too expensive.
Advantages
Disadvantages
The next day, ads for similar dresses appear on Emina’s social media channels. Although usually this doesn't happen, this time she gets tempted by an ad and clicks on it. She likes this dress even better and it’s cheaper. It only costs 50 dollars. However, she doesn’t know the online shop – it represents an American brand she’s not familiar with. But when she sees that it delivers to Switzerland for an additional fee of 12 dollars, Emina orders the dress against invoice anyway.
In the meantime, Alec’s shoes and suit have arrived, but unfortunately only the shoes fit. He returns the suit and starts searching all over again. Since the online store allows returns, it will refund the amount of the suit. Alec will see the amount in his credit card account five days later. In the meantime, Emina went to buy accessories and shoes with a friend. She spent almost 60 francs, which means she just barely stayed within her budget.
A week later, the long-awaited parcel from the US finally arrives. The dress fits perfectly and is a real eye-catcher – Emina is super happy. Three days later, however, she receives another invoice from DHL in the mail – the customs duties! She had not thought of that. Emina has to pay 27 francs.
Returning the dress is not an option for her. First, it fits perfectly, and second, she would have to pay for the shipping to the US herself. But since she has already used up her budget, Emina has to take the money for the customs duties from her savings account. This annoys her greatly, as she had purposefully budgeted a precise amount.
In the end, Alec and Emina both have a great outfit for the graduation party and cannot wait to wear it. But both have realised that online shopping also has its disadvantages. In the future, Emina wants to pay more attention to what ‘hidden’ costs might be incurred, and Alec has had to admit that online shopping can also be tedious. He sent four parcels back until he had the perfect suit. For two parcels, he had to pay the return shipping fees himself and thus spend an additional 14 francs.
