The Pros and Cons of Buying Sporting Goods Online

By John Guevara

Where do you buy your sporting goods? For me, I used to always enjoy heading out to the store and buying all of my tennis and football kit until I discovered the benefits of online shopping. Nowadays I will generally do a mixture of ordering online and actually going into the stores. I find that when it comes to footwear, I much prefer visiting the store in person to get the right size, however last week, I changed my routine and bought a pair of Adidas slides online.

My experience of shopping online has been mainly good, but it is important to remember both the pros and cons of buying sporting goods online.

Pros

There are of course many benefits to buying online, so let’s kick off with the pros.

Convenience

I really do love the convenience of being able to shop at any time of the day or night, from the comfort of my own home or even whilst I am on my way to work. Online shopping has really made it easier than ever before to grab sporting goods no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Deals

I often find that online stores are able to offer much lower prices than a high street shop, especially when it comes to sporting goods. On top of this you can get bundle deals, use discount codes and make big savings when you shop online.

Range

Great online retailers are able to offer a much larger range of products than a high street store is. Online retailers have far less limitations and can offer you far more items because of this.

Cons

There are also some negatives about buying online which I want to take a quick look at, there aren’t many, but it’s important to be transparent.

Returns

Because you aren’t able to touch, look at or try on the product that you are buying, you will find that you have a much higher rate of returns. This isn’t a huge problem of course but it does mean that you are going to be waiting longer for the product which you need, as well as having to go through the rigmarole of having to re-package the product and send it back, as well as having to deal with customer service.

Costly

Owing to the fact that it is so easy for you to shop online, it can become a very dangerous and costly option for you. When compared with actually going to the store, I guess that I would spend 50% more when shopping online, simply because it is just that much easier, and you are being actively marketed to more than when you are actually in the store. This isn’t a huge drawback of course, after all you get goods for the money you spend, it just means that you need to be that little bit more careful.

As with everything, buying your sporting goods online comes with its good and bad points.