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Online Shopping Effects

Notre Dame University

ENL-110

Written by: Ashraf Rasbieh

Presented to: Toni Kopaly

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Online Shopping Effects

With the onset of the Corona pandemic, one has quit an overconsumption lifestyle. He found
himself with a new reality that forced him to reconsider and think about his life system. Luxuries
are no longer in the lives of many, and priorities alone topped the list. The Corona pandemic has
contributed to changing many concepts and habits in the world, most notably the application of
the social distancing protocol, and what resulted from this application of resorting to the online
shopping process (online) to secure most of the needs, from foodstuffs to clothes and various
goods(Zhang, 2010). The electronic shopping process is characterized by the diversity of
innovations of sellers and buyers alike, as offers are active in various sites around the world to
entice shoppers with low prices and various goods. In Lebanon, most people were forced to
adopt online shopping, contrary to their customs, and some companies have encouraged
shopping from abroad and buying from the most important stores of the world through Amazon
global, and paying in Lebanese pounds. Social distancing and home quarantine prompted most
stores in the world, as well as in Lebanon, to design special websites to facilitate people's affairs
and stimulate the selling process at the same time. This process is characterized by the highest
speed in the implementation of the procurement process, as well as in the low prices of goods,
but at the same time, it is marred by the risks of cybercrime, which was very active in the time of
Corona such as the growth of cybercrimes, delivery problems, and the fun of traditional buying.

The online shopping process has many risks, the most prominent of which is the information
crimes that are being committed massively globally in the time of Corona. Locally, the Lebanese
law did not directly address these crimes, but it is possible to apply some provisions of the
Lebanese Penal Code and other legal texts in force. As the Intellectual and Artistic Property
Protection Law No. 75 dated 3/4/1999. Punishing the perpetrators of information crimes
internationally is reported to the "army", President of the International Society for Combating
Cybercrime in Paris, Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud Shawky (Chebat, 2009). It first shows that online
shopping is very important in the time of Corona. One of its advantages is that the purchase
process is carried out at a record speed that does not exceed a few seconds, and at a very low cost
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that cannot be compared to the traditional purchase, as the store does not incur the costs of
electricity, labor, etc., in addition to the fact that online purchase only requires a computer
connected to the Internet and an electronic card (credit card).) Especially for this process. On the
other hand, this process suffers from great risks, most notably the electronic crimes that are
frequently committed at this time, represented by fraud by displaying goods through a fake
website, for example. After choosing the right goods by the customers, money is sent by credit
cards, but the goods do not reach the buyer(Zourrig, 2009). Another problem is related to
sending goods that do not have the quality of the goods presented on the site, or from other
brands. In addition to this is the phishing crime operations on the Internet, that is, the seizure of
confidential credit card numbers or passwords for e-mail, and the introduction of viruses and
malware, through which criminals illegally enter the victim's computer. In his opinion, the risks
or disadvantages of selling on the Internet lie in the difficulty of reaching the location of the site,
which could be in China, New Zealand or Australia ... as well as the difficulty in identifying the
perpetrator and determining the law under which he can be punished. The buyer may be in
Egypt, the signer is in New Zealand, and the seller is in China. To which law is the crime
subject? And he adds: The percentage of cyber-crime committing in the time of Corona has
increased significantly. It was found that Britain lost about a million and a half pounds during the
month of March as a result of these crimes. Statistics also showed that several major countries
have experienced an increase in the crime of entering websites and computers illegally. As for
laws and legislations that punish information crimes, Dr. Shawky stresses that European
countries are considered relatively advanced in this field. For example, legislations and laws
were approved in France in 1988 and in Britain in 1990, and some Arab countries have good
specialized legislation and laws, to name a few, in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates, and cyber-crimes of all kinds are punished through these laws. Scam, fraud,
malware ...). There is an international convention to punish information crime prepared by the
Council of Europe, which is the Budapest Convention or The Council of Europe Convention on
Cybercrime, knowing that it is the first in the field of cybercrime, and it is open to all countries
and is not limited to Europe. Finally, he recommended the necessity of enacting specialized
legislation related to cybercrimes, and not relying on classic or traditional criminal law, because
the perpetrators are very professional and rely on lawyers to help them escape from loopholes in
the laws.
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For many people, shopping is a pleasure, and a place that they can rest upon during hours
of anger and joy at the same time, especially since the large commercial centers include various
stores and restaurants. How does psychology explain the pleasure of shopping and watching for
goods, and can online shopping compensate for it? Dr. May Gibran, a professor at the Lebanese
University in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, answers that shopping is a great pleasure
and a pleasure, to the extent that it sometimes comes to the point of an addiction to shopping.
Shopping does not mean buying goods only, but also watching, and this reality may apply to the
female component more, in terms of wearing different dresses and shoes and taking them off
without the intention to buy them. These behaviors are the result of many emotional,
psychological, or even intellectual factors. Online shopping differs from traditional shopping in
which a person is exposed to great temptations related to his instinct that is dominated by
anxiety, frustration and sexual deprivation ... which is saturated through the purchase of goods,
and thus money can be spent more than if the shopping process was done electronically. Money
and sex are two elements linked to each other, and therefore paying money somewhere is
considered compensation for repression, in addition to compensation for deprivation of the
pleasure of getting to know new people and visiting new places. Thus, the traditional shopping
process is wonderful and important for self-gratification, and it cannot be replaced by electronic
shopping (Shin, 2010). Although we can save money through online shopping, this process will
not work in Lebanon in terms of buying clothes and shoes. Temporarily, it might succeed in
purchasing food and goods. Why is success temporary? Gibran responds: Because the operation
is very expensive in Lebanon, and this was clearly evident in the first period of the outbreak of
the Corona pandemic, as most goods are not priced, and they arrive at homes with high costs and
low quality. In addition, trust in Lebanon is lost between customers and merchants, which
hinders the process of online shopping, unlike what is the case in Western societies accustomed
to online shopping, due to the nature of their work and the circumstances of their lives.

Dr. Gibran hoped that life would return to its previous state, because online shopping is
frustrating in all its fields, and does not meet the psychological and material needs of the human
being in general and the Lebanese in particular. Online deals generated an additional $ 105
billion for US retailers in 2020. In 2019, online deals accounted for about 15.8% of all
transactions within the countries joined together, compared to 21.3% in 2020. Moreover,
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MasterCard has been thinking. A survey on e-commerce within the UAE found that 73% of
individuals living within the country used more online shopping in 2020 than they did in 2019.
These numbers are not as driven by the increasing tendency of people to create online purchases
at times Closure. But on top of that, due to expanded access to e-commerce apps that offer
shoppers low discounts (Al-Bawaba, London). Unlikely, the personality of the Lebanese is
completely different from the personality of the French, Kuwaiti or American, and therefore his
relationship and interaction in the shopping process is completely different. Also, social
distancing will create in him a state of sadness, anxiety and rejection of the reality that does not
resemble it, because social life is essential for him, and his relationship with the seller and buyer
is different and beautiful, and he cannot be like the rest of the peoples of the world.

The late delivery is one of the downsides of online shopping, as it is possible in many
times that the arrival of products is late for their arrival, especially those coming from far places
where you need a long period of time to reach the desired place. On the other hand, invalid
products may be delivered, as products may be damaged during shipping, unloading and loading
operations, especially if they are transported over long distances. It is worth noting the errors
during delivery, in some cases the products do not go to their correct destination, as the buyer
may receive products that he did not order and the products may arrive that do not meet the
specifications desired by the buyer(Chebat, 2009). As for the process of shipping the products, it
has become a very expensive process, especially if the product is transported from a distance, as
the costs of shipping may become more expensive than the price of the product itself, and there
is no opportunity to see the product live, that is, the buyer's inability to see or try the product,
which makes many people not prefer shopping through Internet. However, when you have a
problem, you may not be able to reach an immediate solution to your problem, if your request
was wrong or a defective product was sent, that is, when you need to contact the company, you
cannot find someone to deal with(Zourrig, 2009). Finally, you may feel disappointed. You may
feel disappointed when you see the product that you have been waiting for days, not as you saw
it in the picture, your dreams may fall into the water when the product does not look like you
painted.

E-commerce retail sales will see double digit growth through 2020, rising to $ 4.058 trillion
and accounting for 14.6 percent of total retail spending by 2020 (Lee,J. and Lee, 2019) So, in
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conclusion, although online shopping has many advantages that attract consumers, it has several
disadvantages that may affect the consumer's opinion of online shopping. Therefore, when online
shopping, the individual must be rational, for example, and be sure to see the image of the item
and check it well and not rely on the specifications only, and enter the shopping site directly and
not through advertisements, search for privacy protection data, use a safe search system to
browse in the internet world Broadband, maintain the confidentiality of the login password,
compare stores using the Internet before completing the purchase steps, keep a record of all
commercial transactions, and ensure the good reputation of the company before completing the
purchase.
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References

1. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 31 No. 2 https://doi-

org.neptune.ndu.edu.lb:9443/10.1108/APJML-06-2018-0210

2. Al-Bawaba- London https://www-proquest-

com.neptune.ndu.edu.lb:9443/docview/2506605834?pq-origsite=summon

3. Zhang, J.Q., Craciun, G., Shin, D., 2010. When does electronic word-of-mouth matter?
A study of consumer product reviews. J. Bus. Res. 63 (12), 1336–1341.
4. Zourrig, H., Chebat, J.C., Toffoli, R., 2009. Consumer revenge behavior: a cross-cultura
perspective. J. Bus. Res. 62 (10), 995–1001.