How the Pandemic Turned Me Into an Online Shopping Addict

A true story

All my life I wouldn't say I liked shopping. I remember those childhood days when my mother forced me — the 7-year-old boy — into endless shopping trips to buy clothes. Actually, two times a year.

In the morning, my mother scared the sh… out of me with the revelation:

My son, we will have a nice shopping day today.

Oh God, please no — there are more important things to do — like reading books and comics. Not again, this shopping torture.

As usual, my mother and god included ignored my not so silent prayers.

I was forced into the car against my will, and my mother drove to the next shopping mall with stores that sell kids' clothes.

Today it was a pants day. So we went in — on this sunny and chilly spring day. Just running around in the woods would be much better than shopping.

So in we went, and my mother started the procedure. She selected the first pair of pants, which usually fit very well.

“Do you like them?” she asked.

“Yes, mum.”, I answered, “I love them, let’s pay and go.”

“Well, boy,” she continued, and I knew exactly what was coming.

“Then we must try 100 other pairs of pants.”

Seriously? When the first one looks good, fits well, why should I try other ones?

I was traumatized through such events — severely.

And it didn’t get better throughout life. Whenever I was unlucky to get “good advice” from a female seller — she fell into the same pattern.

“Hey, if you like the first one, try 100 others to reconfirm your initial choice.”

Shopping? Not for Me.

The weekly shopping trips I organized like a spec ops mission.

Get in quickly — complete the mission — and extract as quickly as possible.

Especially avoid direct contact with the enemy: female sales personal that want to talk you into a 3 hours horrors shopping experience.

I never started to like shopping.

And the little emotion I had for that experience was destroyed in the pandemic.

Since March 2020, Austria — the country I live in — is basically on lockdown.

Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I always knew better things to do than wasting a day in a shopping center. There is a whole world to explore. Yes, I do know that it is already conquered centuries before I was born.

But I haven’t seen most of it in real life yet. So let’s run those Ultramarathons all over the world rather than shopping.

It didn’t really matter whether shopping was online or offline. I was always scared of the waste of a valuable life time for the act of shopping.

My nightmare online was that I buy something — let’s say the pair of pants — and it doesn’t fit. How should I send that back? Another time sink.

So except shopping for digital content — like kindle eBooks — I didn’t do too much of that shopping process.

Most of my clothes are worn out, and my car is from 2004. I wouldn't say I like shopping.

Sometimes my friend points out that I should get some new things as I look like a beggar.

So I have reserved two days a year for f…. shopping.

Yes, I know that makes me a people pleaser, and I have given up most of my personality for that sacrifice.

But everything changed in March 2020. I love shopping now, and thinking about my next shopping trip to the wonderful world of Amazon, Etsy, or Shopify gives me already chills. It’s love.

Actually, I buy at Amazon but needed to work around the “he is just doing affiliate marketing” thought of the readers.

So how I fell in love with shopping — suddenly at 46 years old? Let me explain.

Doomsmonth March 2020

In the ides of March 2020, everything changed. On the one hand, there was a pandemic.

And also, my life changed even though I never got infected.

Why?

One of my grand shopping days is always the week before the Easter weekend. And the other one before Christmas.

I thoroughly trained this habit since I left my parents' apartment to work on a master's degree—my own life, my own apartment, and finally, my own shopping rules.

Lockdown in Austria started about mid-march 2020, and it was less than a month to my first great shopping day, on which I intended to buy everything I needed for the coming 6 months:

• a pair of shoes
• a pair of pants
• 1 shirt
• 1 pair of running shoes
• running stuff like pants and shirts
• tech stuff like computers, phones, AirPods, and alike

A thought-through plan. Until the politicians shut all shops from one day to the other.

I was devasted — so much free time to use as I didn’t have to go shopping.

And still, I had to wear my clothes, and they started falling apart.

High on Hopeium

So here I was in the first lockdown. How should I buy things?

I was not too fond of real-life shopping, and I wouldn't say I liked online shopping as well. Buying eBooks was pretty cool and uncomplicated. I can order the books anytime I want, and they are delivered instantly.

Never did I feel the need to return items.

But tech stuff, clothes, shoes, and everything I needed for running is a different kind of story. What if something didn’t fit. How should I manage to send them back? And can I be sure to get my money back?

Yes, you are right — I don’t trust lightly organizations I don’t know well, even if they are called Amazon.

All of these thoughts blocked me from becoming a healthy, happy, and delighted online shopping king.

But April — the Easter week — was the week that changed everything in my life.

The desperate me needed to get things done and shopped. It couldn’t be that I break my shopping habit after building it for 26 years successfully.

Impossible. What will happen when I step out of my shopping comfort zone that I neatly designed for my perfect life? The whole world could fall apart.

So the lockdown forced me towards Amazon.

I didn’t go all-in on the first online shopping trip with a few thousand euros to manage my risk wisely.

The risk-averse me directed my actions towards buying just one cheap item.

And I was really nervous. There is so much that goes wrong with Vienna's addressed letters as many of those envelopes never reached my destination.

Will it be the same with Amazon Parcels? I hoped it was different….

After a few days — in which I have abandoned my hope of receiving what I have ordered — Alexa began to blink in a yellow/greenish color.

What the hell was going on?

“Alexa, why are you blinking?” I asked.

And the answer was when you get new messages, and I blink like that.

“Should I read it?” she asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“A parcel for you will arrive today.”, she answered.

What? I get a personalized message on the point when Amazon sends me something? That I call customer service, that I never experienced before.

And indeed, the packet was delivered to my doorstep.

Whether it was with a smile or not, I don’t know as the delivery guy needed to wear a face mask.

Fulfilled by Amazon

The days of me being an online shopping virgin were over. And the first time was better than I thought it would be.

I ordered that I track the goods I wanted all the time and get a message right before the arrival.

Very impressive.

So why not try a second time?

And it worked as good as the first time. I couldn’t get enough and buy and bought and bought.

And every time the same excellent service quality. No problems, no questions asked. All were delivered in time, and nothing was lost.

After half a year of online shopaholism, I encountered the first problem.

I got a lot of stuff from amazon for my Podcast/Webcast format.

• Microphones
• Headsets
• Ring lights
• Webcams

Everything I needed all was available on the Amazon marketplaces. The only missing piece after 9 months of being an online shopping addict was loudspeakers for the post-production.

Headset sucks after a while and having high-quality speakers looked like a great option.

I went online bought them, and they were delivered; everything fine until I turned them on the first time.

One of the speakers refused to work.

“Oh Lord,” I thought, “what should I do now?”

I was desperate as all the bad memories flashed up in a second of attempts I had in the past of returning broken stuff to the retailer.

They always tried hard to convince me that the defunct product's responsibility was in my area of influence, and they have no intention of replacing it.

I was sweating and shivering. After a few seconds that felt like a lifetime — seriously- I put myself together and tried to think logically.

Complaint Management by Amazon

Ok, there must be something to return goods. I went on my site to my order and bingo. It was so easy to find.

To make a long story short, I got cristal clear guidance from Amazon on how to pack the goods, how to label them — everything prepaid by amazon- and the best thing:

A clear guidance at which shop I needed it to drop off — 3 minutes walking distance from my apartment.

Three minutes. So I dropped the parcel off, and I was shivering again, sweating, fear came creeping up my back.

I got a fair share of betrayal in business, and now I have handed the only collateral I had over to the enemy. The goods that were of minor value.

Why should Amazon repay it? They have my money, now the goods, and as they were of minor value, I would never waste time to sue them.

I went home with little hope and tried to do whatever necessary to distract me from this betrayal anxiety.

3 hours later, I checked my emails and got one from Amazon.

Thanks for sending the items back, you qualify for a refund.

Only 3 hours later — after dropping the parcel off at a state-owned post station — on a Saturday morning.

Damn, this company is great.

Almost One Year Into My New Addiction

Since I tried my first online purchase, almost a year has passed. I have bought many goods, and it is amazing what I have learned.

Online Shopping is simple. A few clicks and a couple of days later, I have the goods I believe I need — delivered right to my doorstep.

I saved sooooooooo much valuable lifetime:

• No useless driving around in the city either by car or public transport
• No useless carrying around heavy stuff myself
• No endless talks with sales clerks
• And no hours of useless discussions when I want to return an item because it was delivered broken.

Online shopping is the best experience I ever had in my life when it comes to buying stuff.

I will never return to the world of real-life retail shopping.

Thanks to Jeff Bezos for creating that amazing company and teaching the world what

relentless customer centricity

really is about in the last 27 years as CEO of Amazon.com

I am an executive, advisor, and coach for companies in various industries. I am specialized in Corporate Development and Finance. From seed rounds to IPO level. I am focused on life science since 2006.

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