BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IT is no secret that people living in St. Kitts and Nevis have found many ways to cut the everyday burden of high cost of electronics and clothing, but an investigation by SKNVibes Business has found out a lot more than expected.
As always, we interviewed a total of six persons who declined to mention their names but agreed to be identified by their occupations.
Their responses were as follow.
Statement – More and more people in the Caribbean have joined their global counterparts in becoming affiliated with online shopping, which has proven to be a better way to getshop; while some prefer to walk in a store to do their purchases, avoiding the long wait of shipping.
Question: Do you think online shopping is better than downtown shopping? And what do you think is best to create a balance between the two, if any?
Office Assistant – “Well, many Kittitians have become glued to online shopping and have saved a lot of money. I can confess to that. I went into a store a couple months back and I saw a T-shirt for EC$136 and online I saw the same clothing for $US25.
“Of course, you have Customs who realise that this online shopping thing has become big, so they raised the price to clear the orders. But people got smarter and started to order in bulk. Many of the fashions you see on the road are not sold here! So to me shopping online is better.”
Accountant – “Online shopping long ago was not an option for some people because not a lot of persons knew how to do it, and the waiting for your orders used to take sometimes a month. Yes, it is more of a preference to people now because it takes less than a week and it is cheaper to do.
“You see, we live in a computer age and even a four-year-old can shop online. But sadly this same money-saving idea has become a nightmare for local store owners because everybody going online. They don’t get business! Eventually they close down, jobs are lost and entrepreneurship is no longer an option for people in our Federation.”
College Student – “I think shopping in downtown is better! You can see what you’re buying and even try it on when it comes to clothing. I had a bad experience with the online shopping thing. I bought three dresses, I gave them the sizes and everything and when I got them they were all small.
“Because they were all on sale there was a ‘no-return policy’, so I wasted money. I think if people had the mentality to support our own many of these businesses that sell clothes and electronics would have been doing better and we can create jobs.”
Hairstylist – “Many of the products I use in my profession are bought in neighbouring islands because they’re not many persons here who sell them. But most of my clients who walk with their own products shop online. When they tell me the prices they pay…its expensive.
“Shopping online has become a fashion style. If you stop five Kittitians and ask them where they got there outfit from, four out of the five will tell you online, even it was bought right here. People here act as if they don’t have an identity, so they follow the other people’s way of living.
“I think what can be done is that the Customs Department should increase more taxes on the stuff that coming in, because if you haven’t noticed it many businesses are crying out.”
Musician – “Well, for me, I go in the stores right here because I believe in supporting my own people. But sadly not everybody thinks like me. When it comes to clothes you got to know where to shop and what you are looking for. The problem is that everybody looks at what other people wearing and they follow.
“We can’t really blame the businesses here because they can only produce what we define fashion to be, and that can be a lost to them. I have been to other countries in the Caribbean and the clothes are affordable and simple. We wear too much clothes in St. Kitts.”
Soldier – “Everybody says ‘oh the shops in town got they prices high, I can’t afford that’, or ‘I don’t like the styles they got’. So they all go online and shop. When they do go online some of them go to any site they see, and before you know it they get robbed.
“People in certain countries only do it because where they are they don’t have certain things, so internet shopping becomes a hassle free thing. Since when we leave stores right here and shop at them stores in America? I don’t get it at all!”
If you agree or disagree with the views above, leave a comment below and tell us at SKNVibes Business which of the two you prefer.
