Dressing rooms and clothing racks are a thing of the past. Online shopping and paying online has become a hit over the past few years with many teens, leaving clothing stores near-extinct. A poll was sent out to the high school students about online shopping and paying. 70.9% of students use online paying apps and 92.6% shop online.

Although cash, credit and debit cards still remain the primary payment methods, online paying apps have risen over the past years. Mobile payment apps allow the user to transfer money to another person or buy items from an online store. A majority of students seem to prefer the cash apps PayPal and Apple Pay. The reason behind using online payments is because it is simply easier. You don’t have to get out of bed and all you need is your phone. It can additionally be used at multiple participating stores.

Online shopping also has taken over traditional shopping in stores. Just like online paying, shopping online has the same benefit of never leaving the house. Online stores have a bigger selection of items for the customer to shop through, and it gives the convenience of shopping at any time of the day.  Many of the students stated that they use online shopping primarily for clothing, shoes, books and technology. Another benefit about searching the web for items is the availability of finding the lowest prices. Online shopping has innovated the retail world.

Even though there many advantages in these options, there is still some hesitation of whether or not it is safe. Despite many students using these online payments, many still question whether or not it is secure. The user is putting in their bank information, address and phone number into these payment sites and must trust that their information will not be given out. The hope is that when someone puts in their information, it will be encrypted and make it difficult for fraud. A rule of thumb to consider when using one these platforms is to always monitor the accounts and not to share passwords