Shopping is one of the great pleasures enjoyed by the women in my family. Shopping with my granddaughter is right near the top of my list. With my granddaughter in Portland and me in Detroit, it’s not very often we could share that experience until we started shopping on Zoom.
In writing this, I must clarify that teens share their shopping experiences daily through text and FaceTime. I remember once when my granddaughter and I were shopping in person; she was in the fitting room so long I thought she had disappeared to another universe and then found out she was texting her friends and showing them her finds for their opinions.
I was in heaven when I finally discovered that we could go through the stores together on Zoom. We’d start on Zoom, pick a store she wanted to shop at, I would access the site on my computer, and she would pull up the site on her phone (to be more “in contact” with the garments). We’d scroll through the site to find something that we both agreed to, and voila, she gets exactly what she wants, and I get to shop with my granddaughter.
My grandson, who is younger and really not into shopping, has a different method. He likes to pick out what he wants, get me on Zoom, and give me the style numbers of his picks, which proves what I’ve been saying for many years that having access to e-commerce and shopping anonymously is probably the best thing that ever happened for the men’s market.
So the thrill of shopping with one’s grandchildren lives on thanks to e-commerce and Zoom. Although It must be said that shopping in person is much more fun, I am shocked when I see the cut of the clothes on the body and the flimsynous of the materials. My granddaughter is very entertained by my constant mumbling disdain over today’s fashion for teens. Fast fashion, so popular today, does not meld with helping the planet by using lasting fabrics that can be passed down through thrifting which is just as popular and much more thoughtful.
Now if someone would tell today’s manufacturers to start a new trend of being a little more thoughtful when designing clothes for teenage girls…said the grandmother in the room.`
Have you been shopping with a child or grandchild over Zoom? Do tell about your experience(s)!
