Topic: Are fast-fashion shopping apps hurting local economy? (Read 414 times)

Did you return the product to the store? I read there is usually a 14 day window to return the items to the store and they will ship another one for you. The sad part of buying stuff online is that you can’t tell the quality of a product by looking at photos. Like you said, there are a lot of fakes on AliExpress. To be safe, I often go through the reviews of the seller before buying. But these days, reviews can be done by the seller to make their shop look good. It’s better to buy directly from the original brand especially if you’re buying designer clothes and shoes. 

Very often most local companies cannot compete with the economies of scale that Chinese companies can employ, as they produce so many products that the cost per unit is very low even when taking into account importing duties and shipping, so there is little doubt that apps which sell those products can outcompete most local brands when it comes to the price and people will prefer to buy them even if the quality of those products is not as good as what they can get locally.

In my opinion it is improving the local economy.  Because through these apps, the products of a country are spreading worldwide.  When a product becomes known in the whole world, then its economic demand definitely increases. And if you buy through the app, the price will be a little higher. Except for wholesalers.  It also has its downsides.  People are becoming more and more dependent on online. There are many shops who are not connected to online and this is a cause of great loss.

The key, is to ditch the "cheap at all costs" mentality and do your research. Remember, that bargain phone case might be a steal, but if it arrives smelling like a chemical spill and shatters the first time you drop it, it wasn't really a bargain, was it?

Sure, buying online might not directly impact your local economy, but there's a flip side. That money you saved on the phone case might be spent on supporting a local bakery or grabbing a pint at your favorite pub. It's all about conscious spending and finding the balance that works for you and your community.

I know that in a grocery receipt, their is a VAT word written and how much it cost us. Maybe the same thing works in these fashion shopping apps? I'm not sure, because I never tried buying on them yet. It's not only about the tax I guess but they can still hurt the local economy in a way that small stores locally (offline) will hardly get a customer.

We often told that we should support local products but mostly those who are being sold in the online shopping sites/apps are from overseas. Governments role is supposed to regulate and make the economy of a country better but it's sad that they are also the reason sometimes for its collapse. Sigh!

With my experience, they did and that's why I didn't go for it. Yeah, it's worth the money because I've seen some posted their orders after receiving and filling in the forms successfully.

At the same time, it's hurting the local producers or manufacturers because there's a huge competition and there's a better demand from these apps. But can we blame the people looking for something imported and probably have better products? The importing fees could have some additional taxes and shipping that helps the economy.

And that makes these apps richer and that's a lesser demand for the local producers/manufacturers because they're having lesser computer. But this is how tough these days for them and needs to understand what competition is.

In my opinion it is improving the local economy.  Because through these apps, the products of a country are spreading worldwide.  When a product becomes known in the whole world, then its economic demand definitely increases. And if you buy through the app, the price will be a little higher. Except for wholesalers.

They just don't want to work in other sector, actually when then online shopping are really in high demand, the sellers will expand their manufacture, so there's a supply for people to work in manufacture. It also increase in delivery, so the logistic company will hire more courier to deliver the overload packages.

So those local sellers can choose to work in manufacture or become courier.

I had the experience of purchasing from the Ali Express online store, but I was not delighted with the quality of the goods they provided. Usually, it looks completely different from what is shown in the photo. But I noticed one significant thing: the Chinese act very quickly, and as soon as there is a demand for one or another branded product, they instantly create a fake, which, of course, does not match the original but is in great demand due to its low cost.
Of course, the addiction to cheap goods is difficult to condemn for those who cannot afford to buy good-quality goods. But people should understand that they pay more expensively because fakes, as a rule, do not retain their service life as original things do.
As for the economy, this is how you look at it. If a country cannot create the required product, then these are shortcomings of the state itself, and the population’s need for it will be met through purchases from other countries.

Yes they are hurting local economy because it kills small & medium scale businesses while reducing patronage for big merchants as well. Places like AliExpress are source of purchase for many other international hubs/supermarkets and buying from them directly makes sense because it saves you money.

In China, cost components for running a business is less comparing to other countries thereby making their goods cheaper compared to other economy reason why most of those countries ordered from them to save cost. What you buy from AliExpress is often what you see from most big retail outlets in the US and others

I don't think it hurts the local economy because they're all being taxed correct me if I'm wrong. The government won't allow businesses specially e-commerce to operate locally without being taxed.

Yes, you are right, it is better for us to partner with those who have better quality products, because if we stick with our products with poor quality and also different prices from theirs, of course we will not be able to sell the products we have.
The current generation easily knows new trends so they will choose better ones with good quality.

there are definitely some people that favour buying thing especially clothing offline rather than online because they just know what they are buying while in using online platform we all know sometime there are some scammy seller that tries to sell clothing thats different from in the picture. but honestly sucht thing can be easily overcome by the fact that there are plenty of clothing stores that opens online that also accept returning stuff if it doesn't seem like it fits to the buyer or they just don't like it.
even electronics nowaday have returning window where you can simply just return the goods even if you don't like it within the window of 14 days and thats such a good thing to have honestly.
the problem about not buying if im not seeing the real thing at this point I can assume already solved, but the fact that buying online thing and returning goods might be such a hassle for people might also be a concern.

It's always hurting the local economy somehow, as the money from your countrymen is going to fund someone else's economy. But the point is that the local market doesn't do anything to offer the products you need for an affordable price. Your only alternative is to import from chinese retailers. If you were able to buy the same stuff for affordable prices from local merchants, I'm sure you would do this. However, even the local merchants are importing from China to resell products more expensive and profit a margin over them. Everyone is surrended to the chinese domain in retail market: regulators, governments, merchants, businessmen and customers. You are just a small gear on this big gear.

Now about cheap prices: they are indeed pretty cheap compared to other goods we have access at official shops, however, since they are making profit on quantity over quality, it totally worths for the sellers and the impact over the economy is much extense than someone could imagine at first impression. It's also one of the reasons why China doesn't have interest in seeing the West failing economically. They feed themselves from western prosperity. Without the West importing, China's income decreases drastically.

Exactly. There are a lot of clothing retail stores here that are big and are the go-to places for fits and clothing, but since the advent of online shopping apps, they have since shifted to live streaming their products and getting orders from viewers and that works pretty well for them. One such place even moved to a smaller location, but are active in Facebook and TikTok live with over a thousand viewers everyday. Their social media accounts already have over 30k likes and if that doesn't scream a good business decision to you then I don't know what will.

Brick and mortar stores will still be there for a long time, sure. But with the comfort and ease of access that online shopping apps offer, it's hard to overlook the fact that everyone is already shifting towards the digitization of everything. 

I am curious, on what way online shopping apps are hurting the local economy?  All your stated are pros of online shopping apps.  As far as I know this apps connects merchants and buyers so the merchants are getting exposed way more than just renting a place on a shopping mall.  I do not think that it is hurting the local economy but rather hurting the rich people who owns establishments for commercial purposes since with online shopping apps, merchant don't need to rent an expensive place in order to show their merchanise.

I have had multiple cases of  ‘what I ordered vs what I got’ from shopping from online stores and I’m done with ordering stuff online. I would rather walk into a store and get what I want. I use the prices on the websites as a comparison tool when bargaining prices in physical stores, of course one cannot expect the prices to be the same, we have to consider the rent and manpower that goes into running a physical store. All this cost are added to the price of the product. But at least I’m sure of what I’m buying.

Especially after Covid, shopping applications such as Amazon and Aliexpress, which are cheaper, have started to be used much more, and users are forced to choose the more convenient one. When you buy a product from a local seller, it is definitely more expensive because it costs much more than e-commerce, so local sellers try to sell the product more profitably. It may harm the country's economy, but if countries set the right tax, I don't think it will be much of a problem. While e-commerce has progressed so much, it will be difficult for local stores to make more money than e-commerce unless they have a lot of extras.

I think that they're only hurting the buyer who doesn't know the quality of the product before buying and they sell very cheap stuff because they know it won't be worth it for the buyer to return it. You buy a $10 product with free shipping, but returning it will cost you $5. Nobody is going to bother returning it and waiting for the refund... They'll either live with a flawed item, try to fix it, sell it locally as damaged (sometimes for parts), or throw it away.
I know people who were trying to get cheap versions in China and what they got broke after a few weeks or months and they had to buy the same product once again.

If used right, this could be a way to make it even better for most people, and you could make a lot more profit. It doesn't hurt the small scale business model, but it might hurt the bigger ones. Back in the day, the biggest places got the most customers because the customers would all have to go there, so small shops wouldn't get as much customers and wouldn't make all that much money. However, if we are talking about online, then we are talking about all places having equal chances, obviously a company that makes 10 thousand shirts will get it cheaper than a company that gets 100 of them, but at least we could say that the playing field is a bit more level in this case.

That's the strong point of Temu and something that they have completely taken advantage of: their warehouses are in the EU; from what I've noticed in the parcels, it must be Bulgaria, and you're not subject to any import taxes. A large number of products that were also bought directly from China, mostly through Aliexpress and Banggood, also went through customs in Hungary or Amsterdam and arrived like they were initially sent from an EU country. Chinese vendors have found loopholes for pretty much everything nowadays.
That's true, and it's not only a quality issue, but the apps themselves promote overspending. Look at Temu's slogan, "Shop like a billionaire," because everything is so inexpensive that you can pretty much buy a ton of stuff for a minor amount of money. This leads to purchasing items that aren't really necessary and are probably going to be thrown in the garbage sooner or later because we never actually needed them.

Thus, it's not only a financial situation but an environmental one as well. Pollution occurs during production and transportation, only for them to end up in the garbage.

It will not affect the local economy because majority of people still buy from local vendors. The prices of fast-fashion shopping apps are low, but together with other additional fees, taxes and delivery, the price will almost be the same as the one sold locally by vendors here so it is discouraging to most locals who are not vendors that buy in bulk, but just want to buy a few things for personal use.

A few times in the past, but not recently because I tried to buy a tech from the US, It was affordable, but additional fees and taxes have increased. I compared the price with what the local vendors offered, it was not so different. I opted for the local vendors, because it was also pointless to wait for days for delivery when the total cost is not less.

Yes, I agree with the term "the buyer is king" indeed if we are sellers we should serve consumers who will make purchases as comfortably and safely as possible, they are the ones who decide, not us. So I think we as sellers have to be more observant and tenacious in responding to market demand.

I used to order a lot from such sites, but now I haven't ordered anything from China for a long time because the regulations regarding such shipments have changed for the worse in my country, and if I'm not mistaken, all shipments outside the EU are subject to customs and VAT, and some other local postal costs. In other words, such ordering has become quite unprofitable considering that there are local stores and those in the EU that import such goods from China in containers and then sell them at retail prices that are sometimes even competitive with those directly from China.

When you look at today's products for wide application, most of them come from China, Turkey, India or Pakistan, and even those products that are declared as coming from the EU are actually mostly produced outside the EU.

Unfortunately, the EU or the US cannot compete with the price of labor in China or India, and recently I watched a documentary that revealed that prisoners are used for some jobs in China - and that is practically free labor.

I believe that lower price for relatively high quality goods coupled with fast delivery can hurt the local economy, but only a section of it, being the manufacturing and retailing sector, because it'll greatly affect their turnover. The consumers are not affected in anyway, infact they're at an advantage to make choices whether to patronize locally or foreign made products, the government can also benefit in terms of taxations.

I only patronize the locally made products in my country, and we have reliable online stores that does fast delivery.
Even for foreign goods there are Marchants that import them sale and deliver at competitive prices, compared to what you'll pay from from any country online .

If you can't beat them, join them.
If you're still want to force yourself to sell local product when there's a better choice or cheaper solution from the competitor, don't hope your business will last long.

You need to accept that, the current generation is fast developing, so you must able to catch up with the new trend instead of using conventional/old school strategy.

Consumers is paying taxes either they buy online or offline because that is how most products are priced these days and in some countries, the tax rate varies but those products only can be bought after paying taxes so it doesn't contribute anything if one or another. The apps are increasing the opportunity to sell the product to wider customers than a local shop and no need to pay rent, or other fees because you can do that in your own garage itself.

Environmentally speaking, there's a lot of negative effect of fast fashion but I can't think of any big effect economically. Cause when I think of its impact, it promotes international trading, and it creates additional employment or business opportunities locally. (Although products mostly come from other countries, it creates high demand in courier related services, and as well as retail). And since it's fast fashion, it tends to be cheaper than othe products, attracting people to spend their money. I've tried buying fast-fashion products and I'm satisfied with my items. Of course, knowing it's cheap, I don't expect much on the quality but items can still last longer so I think it's still worth it.

The only think I can think of on how it's hurting the local economy is that, it creates competition between local products. Since fast fashion are always in mass production, they can offer the items at a lower price unlike with some small local businesses where they can only produce several items that they cannot lower the price as same with fast fashion.

Buying an item from a site like amazing or even jumia doesn't make much difference as compared to the economic implication of buying it from a physical shop. At the end of the day, their exist a physical shoo where the item you ordered would be send to you from and so it's basically a function of convenience and and ease of accessibility over what ever conventional method that have existed prior to now.

I guess most of the online shoos still has a physical location and have undergone some proper registration from the regulatory agency controlling the region of their operation and the registration process might require a regular payment of certain amount either on a weekly, monthly or yearly bases depending on the revenue they are generating.

The government collects taxes from every purchase, and the higher the shopping amount, the more income is generated. This is a situation that the state can choose and will not want to give up easily. The user also profits from these purchases because when he shops from the local market or from the site serving in his own country, he buys a product that would cost more from these sites at a more affordable price.

The more you produce a good, the cheaper you can sell it. The fact that the production amount is not very high in small businesses or local markets causes the goods to be sold to be expensive. Therefore, these sites are useful for the government and its users, but not for small businesses and local markets.

They also pay taxes, as well as the platform they are using.

So yes, they don't hurt the local economy. What's hurting the economy all over the world is our own government, especially because of inflation, which can be manipulated by people who has the power to do so. For what reason, well because of money of course, they wanted to collect money from their citizens in a "legal" way that normal citizens won't see.

God!!!, there is so much garbage on Temu that probably hurts everything in the world not just local economies
- first that thing needs to travel a lot to reach you, pollution
- those things are made without any concern for the environment out of the cheapest and toxic plastics, again pollution
- sweatshops with the cheapest unqualified labor, near slavery
- they break so easily you will need to buy again a better on, repeat the whole thing
- more garbage in the dump as you throw it out a month after buying it, again polution

I and a lot of my older friends , talking about 40+, we've learned out lesson first with Turkish products that were so cheap in the 90's then with cheap Chinese things, the moment you don't buy from a westerns brand that makes things in China then you're going to buy something that breaks the next day.

And before somebody says a thing about how good chinese phones like Huawei were, the thing is none of the component were actually produced in China, even when claiming to go full domestic, only 53% of the phone is made in China , up by 17% 3 years ago.
https://www.vietnam.vn/en/huawei-mate-60-pro-su-dung-47-linh-kien-trung-quoc/

Buy quality, even if it's made in China buy some made under western quality rules.
As for exactly your thing, when the backpack breaks, buy a brand one, go for Osprey for example, I have one for 14 years, yeah it will cost you 4 times more but It will never let you down, stuffing it to the max that you think it will blow like a pinata and still keeping up.

Yes, we can walk over to the nearby store, spend an extra $10, and enjoy ourselves right away. But let's not forget about the bigger picture. The world market is changing a lot because of websites like AliExpress. They're not just a way to save money; they give you access to a lot of choices. In this case, patience isn't just a virtue; it's also a smart way to make money. Waiting 20 days? Think of it as a planned wait that will save you a lot of money. Planning purchases in advance? That's smart budgeting

The local economy and the world market don't have to be at odds with each other, though. We, as consumers, power both. We're not only saving money by getting only what we need online, but we're also learning how the global market works. Not only do you want to get a cheaper product, but you also want to learn and take advantage of global economic trends. Isn't that information and understanding worth a lot? Not only do we buy things, but we're also smart market players in a big economic game. Picking internet stores like AliExpress? That's the long game, and it's time we understood how valuable it is

In my country, there are local online marketplaces that are popular for shopping online. Of course, you need to watch who you're buying from and what kind of things you're buying if you want it to have decent quality. Such platforms rather help than hurt local economy, I think. There are some people who use AliExpress, but it's usually for something you can't buy on local platforms, especially since delivery to my country takes forever. The prices are low, but the prices aren't everything. I do agree that if people use AliExpress to buy something that can be reasonably bought on a countrywide online marketplace, it's not good for the local economy because the money is getting out of the country and local producers and distributors aren't getting their share of it.

I don't doubt that; I've seen stuff sold on Temu in shops here as well, and a large majority of these products are quite generic. However, if you're buying everything from Temu or Shein, you're not buying from local shops, and how are they supposed to make ends meet? I suppose that the same thing also applies to large chains and supermarkets, which now supply pretty much everything.
That's actually a great reply and explanation. I'd send you some merit along the way, but I don't want to ruin your 4.000 merit score.  
That's true; on the one hand, I feel pleased to take advantage of the bargain prices; however, after spending a reasonable amount of money on Temu, something that I'm not used to, I feel a little guilty. Supposing that I had bought these items here, I would probably have spent double or even triple the amount I spent. On the other hand, I believe that these websites push you to keep making purchases due to the excessively low prices. I'm quite sure that I wouldn't have bought all these items in the first place if I were to buy them locally.

I can't guarantee the validity of my statement; it's something that has been circulating on news websites, but I keep seeing Temu deliveries all the time in the past few months.
I've bought the mechanical keyboard for a few bucks, it's worth it. They don't request anything more than any other eCommerce website.
Not only that, but imagine the environmental impact of all those products and clothing that are practically disposable, because a large number of them soon end up in the trash due to impulsive buying and poor quality.

Of course they are hurting the local economy, as not only local merchants are seeing their sales reduced but even governments are not getting the taxes those purchases will bring, however can a person that is earning a small amount of money afford to buy their local products which are many times more expensive? Or as it is often the case, can they afford to buy those very same products for a higher price and pay three or four times to a local business? Most people cannot do it as wages are very low, and if you can save a few dollars here and there to the detriment of those local businesses then you have no other option but to do it.

Low prices of these fast-shopping apps doesn't for a moment hurt the economy. I'll tell you why. First, only a small number of persons use theses apps. And most of them are not going to be returning customers. Second, those who buy cheap end up paying huge amount in cheating fee. They are also in another way bring in money into the country through shipping fees and all. Nothing happens to the economy. It remains the same.

Just throwing this out there....

Looking at the offerings on for example Temu's landing page, the items listed are the type
of items which you either dont actually need or would buy only once.

Are these sites hurting local business, yes but probably not as much as we might think.
Yesterday for example I needed to use my "puncture repair kit" but the glue had dried out,
I went to the local hardware shop and bought a tube of it for €2.50, I'm waiting a week for
this by buying on Temu, so the local shop got my business anyway eventhough it was twice
the price of Temu.

I never purchased from Aliexpress, and most of the dealers on Aliexpress are from China, and the big reason for me to not order from Aliexpress is the big delay in delivery like from 10 to 20 days, I don't know how much time it would be taking in your country, but here besides delay time, the fee is also very high. Other than all, things are really cheap in China that's because we can ask them to make things of any quality.

We just have to give them a budget and they will make our products accordingly, we as a seller then can sell those items to the buyers in all over the world, the cheapness of many products comes with some price that we sometimes have to pay with no item in the box, or broken item, even used item. And the biggest risk is if we receive the item after 20 days and we have to replace it for some reason then we might have to wait for almost 2 months maximum.
This whole thing made me think, why should I go for online buying when I have a store near me where I can buy the same thing by giving 10$ extra, where I can at least, replace it, and claim it after with no time delay. Online buying is not for everyone, and not every person prefers it, therefore local economy might not be affected to the level you have anticipated here.

Well there is definitely a significant effect of online stores to the local economy like you said they offer a much cheaper price for goods online compared to the ones you can buy locally so it is not surprise if these online websites do not take the same amount of tax from their customers compared to the amount of tax local stores have to take from their goods

online shops and local ones are in competition with each other and because of its modality which is much convenient for everyone, online shops are now much more in demand which hurts the local businesses which in result hurts the local economy



i don’t know if it has been normalized all over the world but in my country when you need something people don’t go to the mall anymore online shops are so used that the names of the online shops have become verbs now

Maybe we are talking about e-commerce, which is an application that provides many of the needs of the community online and anyone can shop easily and cheaply, this also happens in my country.

And if I notice that the market is indeed changing, especially in open e-commerce and with export merchandise, of course I think the local economy will lose, for example in home goods, of course export goods from China are much cheaper, and local products can lose if you look at this side, in this case the government must move to limit export products and give more importance to local products, or at least provide regulations so that market price competition can be competitive and not kill the local economy.

Yes if we look at it from one side then obviously there are negative impacts as you mentioned, lowering the purchasing power of local markets, reduced employment, the consequences of waste and excessive pollution due to the large stock of goods that are not sold in local markets, but on the other hand this is the digital era, the times are modern and everything has become very easy, especially in shopping, people no longer need to go to the market to buy something because obviously there are some allocations or expenditures of money that are not needed, such as the cost of public transportation to commute or the cost of fuel oil in the vehicle they have.

So obviously people will definitely prefer something that is more accessible, economical and the quality of the goods is not much different from those in the local market. Of course that's from my personal point of view, and maybe one way for traders not to experience a decline in purchasing power that is not too significant then maybe they should keep up with the times such as becoming one of the traders who are also engaged in online sales and not just in physical markets.

I don’t have any stats to back this up, it’s all just my opinion. I think fashion shopping apps can have negative impacts on local economies. These apps promote cheap and disposable clothing which leads to a decrease in demand for locally produced and possibly higher quality garments. As a result of this, local businesses and artisans suffer which can lead to job losses & reduced economic growth. The environmental consequences of fast fashion such as excessive waste & pollution harm local ecosystems & communities. By prioritising convenience & low prices over sustainable & locally made products fast fashion shopping apps contribute to the erosion of local economies & hinder the development of sustainable & ethical fashion industries.

Therefore, we must be able to review residential trade policies. The government usually makes laws regarding certain limits where it is allowed to operate around 5-10% of foreign products including imported goods and prioritize local products to advance the economy and increase state treasury revenues. Regarding competition in the world of trade society is also required to be able to adapt to technological  advances and little by little  expand the trade sector not only offline but must also be able to migrate to online trade. There's nothing wrong with why fast delivery is now prioritized rather than having  to take a car or motorbike just to buy a dozen cups. If you can buy online why not? that's our current habit, looking for practical options that save transportation costs, just waiting in  front of the house until the package comes to you.

I can assume that by "fast-fashion shopping apps" you mean the big Chinese platforms like Aliexpress, Wish, Temu, Shein and a bunch of others. I don't know where did you come up with the term "fast-fashion shopping"? Do you mean impulsive buying?
No, I don't think that they are hurting the local economies, because if you want to buy the same stuff and it's manufactured in your local economy, the price would be higher. There's a reason why those Chinese platforms are selling cheap stuff. All this cheap stuff has been produced by using cheap labor and cheap raw materials. Labor exploitation and slavery are the hidden problems of China.
Those apps are really good at marketing. Temu is brutal, when it comes to getting new customers. They seem more like a ponzi scheme, rather than a shopping website/app.

I think it has an impact, but if we look realistically at the changing society, the e-commerce trend is bringing more job opportunities, and in terms of scale, the change may cause some difficulties in the beginning, but in the long run, I see them having many benefits.

Even in the area where I live in the countryside, many years ago most people only bought and sold through traditional markets, but the change in many different products has caused the developing locality to change according to the trend common in society, sometimes the price of change of traditional things also requires adaptation. Although I personally am not a frequent shopper, I fully support the popularization of e-commerce to reach localities, which is partly contributing to promoting economic development and also brings balance to the process of social change.

I believe that it does. I've seen an ad from temu before and that promising discount first purchase of a mechanical keyboard is what made me interested. But after downloading the app, it was too hectic as there's a lot of information that needed to be filled so I just quit it and it made me uncomfortable. Whilst for Shein, I've been seeing them lately that there are a lot of supply of their tees in the local market. But regardless of these apps, I still buy in the local market, no brand, not fake but just plain tees and plain colors. I just like wearing those and I always get to check if it fits me and as well as the fabric if it's cotton or comfortable for me. I have never bought from any of those apps but with aliexpress, I used to see ecom people that gets their supplies there together with alibaba.

I think it's depends on the Platform, in my country the popular online marketplace platform is local platform, only few people shop on international marketplace like AliExpress, Temu, or Amazon, they only use those when there is no other alternative local product.

These local online marketplace were User Generated and totally autonomous, and most of the merchant is local business, the platform only act as moderators and escrow so scam and fraud could be minimized and the scammers could be banned. Each merchant were totally indepenndent and fully in control of what product they sell, the price, and how they ship their products. As I said that most of the merchant were local brands, it really helps those local brands to grow, before the trend of this online marketplace there are only less 10 local fashion brand, but after this online marketplace emerge many local brands were become popular because it usually cheaper, since it's produced locally less shipping and no custom and import fee.

On one hand, you, me, we're getting items at a steal. But consider the real cost. It's terribly obvious? Local enterprises are weakened by these platforms. Every time we buy a €5 item over a €20 locally manufactured one, we say, "Hey, I don't care about local economies." It's brutal, but it's the truth. Cheap imports are a tsunami smashing on our local markets

Discussing quality now. All of us have experienced these apps' hit-or-miss nature. Anybody remember a semester-long rucksack or earbuds that die like mayflies? Our greed for discounts is blinding us to environmental waste, quality compromise, and local artists and companies being slowly strangled. Numbers are reliable. Greece alone: €250,000/day? A wake-up call, not just a statistic. We are giving food to a huge animal that doesn't care about quality or the environment. Are we clever shoppers or part of the problem?

1) One of the things that makes me prefer paying in cash and from a local store is that paying with cash is more painless than using banking services, so having to count $200 to buy something from a store is more painful than paying with a card.

This research study describes that cash payment represents a stronger tool for self-regulation, these findings could be relevant to those interested in regulating compulsive shopping or digital gambling. So I advise you to read it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6856651/

digital services give you alternatives such as discounts, free delivery, or buy now and pay later, all of this to push you not to buy with cash and enhance your remorse.

2) The ability to pack many purchases: In the store, when you buy one or two products, you feel that this is enough and that the shopping bags have become heavy and that I must stop spending, but when you buy a number, this feeling is less. On the contrary, you will try to fill the shopping cart due to the presence of discounts.

Of course, such things harm the local economy, because most people look for cheap things, even if they are of lower quality, which means harm to the local economy that is associated with this type of services provided.

If all people buy these cheap materials from electronic stores without shopping online, it is certain that local industries will be greatly harmed because this will cause the recession of these products and they will not find a good market to sell their products, or they will be forced to reduce prices and this may cause them to stop in the end.

I've read news about how traditional stores or big shopping center, in general, is losing money due to e-commerce apps in my country. So yeah, some of them definitely hurt. On the other hand, nothing is stopping these sellers from opening their own store on the app too. The beginning is probably difficult since they need to compete with tons of other stores, but it is not like they won't find customers as long as their price is competitive. Most of the time, distance and shopping fee is the biggest factor why people choose one store over the other.

Personally, though, I never use Alibaba for fashion, etc since most of them require overseas shipping. I can easily find most of the stuff you tell me in my city, which is just a 30-minute trip at most. Not a bad trade for me, and even if I need to buy new shirts, I'd rather use other apps. What I tend to use them for is for electricity, like batteries and stuff like that. There is no option if nobody can provide me with the product that I need. It is always a gamble though, since what I bought might be a dead product on arrival too.

I don't think so. The whole world is getting digital over time. These e-shopping platforms weren't as widespread as they are today a couple of years back. When COVID-19 took the world by surprise, people were using these platforms to do their shopping, they would even buy their groceries from these online stores which isn't what someone would normally do because you would generally just go to a supermarket and buy groceries and other necessary stuff but since every public place was closed during the pandemic, these platforms were useful.

Now when things are back to normal, some people still use those platform, maybe more than some because they have a lot of customers around the globe, but the quantity of people making online purchases have decreased drastically after the pandemic was over.

So, local stores and markets are operating normally once again, and these platforms are useful as well based on how advanced the world is becoming with time, we need all sorts of conveniences.

Whether we like it or not, eCommerce is the future. Convenience, of course, is the primary reason. But a lower price is also very attractive to consumers. Of course, online stores can offer much lower prices for their products because they don't spend much on expenses that brick-and-mortar stores will have to bear. This could significantly affect the local economy if the majority of the population shifts almost completely to online shopping, ordering cheap products from abroad, and avoid malls and shops and stores.

In terms of fast-fashion shopping, it might kill local products which are more expensive and probably less fashionable or trendy. Especially with the trend nowadays in which people seem to prefer fashion over quality or even comfort, mass produced cheap products could sell more. Fast-fashion affords young consumers to easily shift to new trends, buying new clothes, for example, while quickly disposing the old ones. This cheap products feed the consumerists in them.

it does hurt local economy otherwise it wouldnt be raised as a concern in many media, i've seen many media raising this problem to their platform few years ago and its only getting worst.
the only thing that could stop this is the government with their taxing towards imports of such products otherwise it will just gonna be some people trying to import product from 3rd world country where everything is cheaper to the 1st world country and get that margin in between, i mean thats just how it is with import business in general just finding cheaper high quality goods oversea and then import it hoping to make some good profit by taking advantage of the gap of prices between the domestic product and the imported ones.
moreover, these fast fashion are leaving so many trash behind that honestly it should be among the thing that urgently need to be solved but somehow people in general just ignore it because its cheap.

online shopping actually gives a lot of convenience to people these days. you can easily browse things that you need at the comfort of your home. get good deals, discounts, free shipping and all. because if you are a busy person, hard to find time to roam around malls, or physical shops and still ended up nothing.

so am not against with online commerce. i am actually one of their avid buyer especially those items that you can't easily find in your local store.

no country has equal economics.
one country that pays the farmer to grow cotton and the seamstress to stitch fabric $15 an hour may make that end clothing for $60
one country that pays the farmer to grow cotton and the seamstress to stitch fabric $1.50 an hour may make that end clothing for $6
one country that pays the farmer to grow cotton and the seamstress to stitch fabric $0.50 an hour may make that end clothing for $2

its same material, same skill, same quality but different cost.
no one can help that because no world economies will ever be on the same equal pay

this does end up converting the developed high income country to become net importers rather than domestic producers.

the issue becomes when the developed countries retailers get greedy and want to sell developed country priced goods($60) but at "75% discount" ($15) by using the $2 countries (still good quality) goods..

this then makes developed countries domestic goods unable to compete as a $60 genuine domestic clothing cant be sold if a nearby retail is selling similar things for $15 imported

..
the next thing is these online stores (temu, shien) then approach the $2 countries offering quality and.. then imploring that the $2 country make the same clothing for $1 by skipping a few quality steps.. which then makes even the quality $15 import retailer not be able to compete

..
the only way we can defy these economics. is by the consumers(customers) making responsible choices which can only be done if the supply chain of farm to retailer is transparent. so people can make an informed choice about what they are buying, and only buy from local sources or sources that ethically pay locals for their skills

I heard about wish, even saw people download and use it but I never liked the sound of the platform so I didn’t use them. Anyways, I do not think nor do I see how the low prices of items on these websites can negatively impact the local currency. I have purchased from aliexpress before and I can say that it is a really good place to buy from. The item normally matches the price you see and I think you’d barely buy something there and think it is overpriced (even if the sellers are independent).

It hurts, but also creates some jobs on the side if you think about it. Here in the Philippines, online shopping apps are more preferred nowadays than people going to the malls to buy stuff. This demand increased the number of delivery men needed to deliver the packages. In turn, it created a huge job opportunity to the people, which will then have their salaries spent back to the local economy to provide the needs of the family. For the first part of the equation, it may seem that online shopping apps are hurting the local economy, but the packages have to be delivered somehow, and that's where the riders come in, and get paid for their service.

In countries with a very high cost of living, this is a big opportunity for them. They have an opportunity to buy what they could have bought for a very high price for almost half the price on AliExpress.
Also, this can help the local economy by giving people an opportunity to buy and sell imported goods without much hassle. People order stuff from AliExpress and resell them in their countries for cheaper prices that the local market. I see this as a healthy form of competition and it has the potential to reduce the cost of living of a region. I know this is long shot though.
Many local vendors get their products from AliExpress. This has created employment for many people. People that ordinarily won't be able to order goods from China.

I have only used Ali Express from where I have ordered my small items and I have received great response and the quality has been excellent. The best thing I have found is that you get your money back if the order is late or the item is damaged. So there is reliable dealing.

The very great offers and good prices of these applications are having a profound impact on the local economy and local vendors.People order things online instead of buying things from their region and country,Due to which valuable foreign exchange is going to other countries. Most of the countries also import things from abroad, rather big vendors order things from abroad, but if people buy online themselves instead of buying from local places, then it will definitely have an impact on the economy.

They form a huge part of the local economy, both in the country of origin and the destinations. It has one of the largest community of online shoppers and buyers offering a wide range of products with different qualities, exactly similar to any online shop which is available, except one was produced using very cheap (and possibly exploited) labour.

One or twice. Was an okay experience.

Ultimately a lot of these products are what ends up in your local shops anyway, just with a premium added on top. As long as you put some thought and research into what you're buying, don't just go for the cheapest option which can often be misrepresented or get lost in the mail. If you buy a cheaper item online it doesn't necessarily impact your local economy, as you might still happily spend the left overs on other necessities that you buy in person. A lot of people are very wasteful and materialistic anyway, so buy far too much junk. Beware buying stuff on places like Amazon or eBay if your stance is to buy from "local" sellers because it's much more hidden these days but you might end up buying from the same sellers that are on AliExpress or Shein.

Should the country tax those shopping sites if they hurt the local economy?

I don't really see them hurting the local economy but people today prefer them since it's more convenient already since the covid, they are the ones serving the public. And they have cheap prices too which even if they hurt the local economy, they will not hurt the pockets of the shoppers.

Some of the merchants you buy products from Amazon are actually buying products from Alibaba the B2B platform of Aliexpress so you can save money if you directly buy from the manufacturer for half the price but if you want a replacement policy, one-day delivery then you need to pay the price for it and choice is yours.

These shopping platforms are benefiting the economy by connecting merchants throughout the country which means more sales and more revenue so now if they are struggling to sell then people are not interested in buying them which needs to be addressed by the manufacturer and make necessary changes.

Hello there,

This is something that I've been wondering about for quite a while. What are your thoughts regarding shopping platforms such as AliExpress, Shein, Temu, and so on? I've personally used Aliexpress a few times in the past and had zero problems; it was usually something small and unsignificant, such as something for my bicycle or car. Cheap and decent quality for the price I paid. I had also noticed a period where Wish.com was being advertised everywhere, but I refrained from using it because I wasn't keen on installing an app just to browse their website. Similarly to Shein, it was everywhere for a relatively long period of time, and you'd hear everyone talking about it. I had installed their app, browsed through a few items, and then uninstalled it for good.

Here's where the difference was made: I did fall victim to Temu's advertising practices; their first user bonus, which I took advantage of a few times, bought me a decent backpack, which I'd find for €30 on Aliexpress, and a dish drying rack, which would cost me over €25 for one, along with a few other things. Most were decent quality, at least for the price paid, with a few being completely crap: some sunglasses, decorations that arrived broken, earbuds that died after a day,, and so on. I wasn't fond of these apps because I wasn't keen on the idea of waiting 20 days to receive some cheap stuff from China that I don't actually need. I usually ordered through Aliexpress if it was something I couldn't find here or was extremely expensive, while at the same time I wasn't in a hurry.

Personally, I've tried to limit my purchases to items that are at least useful andusefulndom things that are never going to be used or have no use whatsoever, but still, I can admit that I've fallen victim to fast-fashion apps. It is being said that solely in Greece, they're receiving €250.000 worth of orders aday., At least a few months ago, when the article was posted, I could not verify the validity of those data, but it's safe to say that they're receiving hundreds of thousand orders per day in Europe alone.

Do you believe that their ridiculously low prices could be hurting the local economy, and why? Have you purchased from them?