Tom Stebbins knew something was changing when he noticed a steady increase in the quantity of plasma televisions, car engines and designer clothing that started popping up more and more. An employee of the mail room for 26 years, Stebbins has concluded that Dartmouth students have upped their online purchasing.
While Dartmouth students shop online for a number of reasons, their primary motivation is that the internet, not surprisingly, offers a wider variety of products than the stores in the Upper Valley.
"I definitely have more options online than I do in Hanover," online shopping enthusiast Rufaro Makanda '10 said. "When I am at home, however, I rarely shop online because I have the option of shopping at several malls in the area."
Unlike Dartmouth students, Jacqueline Dow, a freshman at Barnard College in New York City, rarely shops online because of the plenitude of retailers in the local area.
"New York City has so much to offer," Dow said. "Anything I need is available nearby."
Dartmouth students also choose to shop online because internet stores are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Shopping online is convenient because all the stores are right at my fingertips," Makanda said.
Liz Kolleeny '08 said that websites go out of their way to make online shopping easy.
"Certain websites make you create accounts that store your credit card information. This way, you don't have to take out your credit card during class and let your professor [and] classmates know what you're really doing on your computer," Kolleeny said.
For Elysa Severinghaus '09 the appeal of online shopping is the ability to search easily for the best price, especially on sites like eBay.
"You can compare lots of different prices in an instant as opposed to going to several different stores," she said.
But convenience and comparison shopping can sometimes make spending money a little too easy. Some students have engaged in binges of online purchasing.
"I found online shopping to be a pretty bad habit, so I stopped last year," Mirelle Phillips '07 said.
Other drawbacks of online shopping include the inability to view products in person.
"The main [disadvantages] are ordering a wrong size or ordering something that looked different online and then having to go through the hassle of boxing the item and returning it," Makanda said.
Despite the increase in online purchasing, Hanover stores don't feel competition from online vendors.
"Our store is very unique," said Debbie Holmes, store manager of Hanover's JuliAna boutique. "Naturally, we carry some brands that you can go online and purchase, but it's nice for customers to come in, see the clothing and actually try it on rather than just viewing it online."
Dartmouth students agree that despite the variety, convenience and discounts that the internet offers, shopping online can't replace shopping in person.
"I love the thrill of trying clothes on and contributing to the energy that all shoppers experience when they go shopping," Makanda said. "The atmosphere of shopping malls is exhilarating and irreplaceable."
