The most convenient way to shop in the United States would be through online shopping. Most online shopping platforms have fast shipping times and generous return policies. For example, Target has free 2-day shipping when you spend $35 dollars and they accept returns within 90 days. Another example is Amazon offering free shipping to non-prime members on most orders that are over $25 dollars with a return policy of 30 days.
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WHY ONLINE SHOPPING IS ESSENTIAL IN THE UNITED STATES?
In most parts of the United States, residential areas and commercial areas are not mixed (unless you are located in the heart of a major city such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago) and most things are spaced out which generally means that you cannot walk to the place that you do your shopping. What this means is that, you would normally need to drive to a local shopping center or plaza to do your shopping or shop online when living in the United States.
Furthermore, when your school is located in a suburban campus town, you usually do not have much choice but to shop online. Below is a comprehensive list of online shopping platforms for different types of needs that you can look into when doing your shopping.
DAILY MULTI USE (COMPREHENSIVE)
This category includes online shopping for all type of items, such as books, food, pens, toothpaste, cups, pots, brushes, utensils, cameras, laptops, makeup, clothes, furniture, headphones, home decor…etc. If you do not know where to look for your item, start with these online shopping platforms.
- Amazon (one of the biggest online shopping platforms in the U.S.)
- Costco (the quantity of what you buy here is usually larger than in normal stores but overall a little cheaper and requires a membership for most things)
- Sam’s Club (similar to Costco which requires a membership for most things)
- Target (one of the most frequently seen and accessible supermarkets in the U.S.)
- Walmart (one of the most frequently seen and accessible supermarkets in the U.S.)
GROCERY
This category includes online shopping for fresh food/grocery. There are a lot of different types and tiers for grocery stores and supermarkets in the U.S. Most grocery stores partner up with third party online grocery delivery services (such as Instacart or Shipt) to deliver fresh food (such as frozen food, fruit, vegetable, meat) to you.
Chinese/Taiwanese Grocery Stores
The biggest online grocery shopping platform in the U.S. for Chinese/Taiwanese food be Weee! Delivery for Weee! is usually 2 days. 99 Ranch Market is a brick and mortar grocery store in the U.S. for Chinese/Taiwanese food and delivery for fresh grocery is with Shipt.
Korean Grocery Stores
H Mart is a brick and mortar grocery store for Korean food and delivery for fresh food is with Instacart.
U.S. Grocery Stores
Walmart, Target, Ralphs are all brick and mortar and price friendly western grocery stores in the U.S. You can find most commonly-known food brands in these types of grocery stores.
Mid-range priced grocery in the U.S. would be Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. You can find some specialty type food items or brands and organic food in these type of grocery stores.
Higher priced grocery stores in the U.S. would be Erewhon Market or Lassens. These types of grocery stores specialize in smaller brands and organic food.
Other types of grocery stores in the U.S. include Costco and Sam’s Club, which sells at bigger quantities for lower prices but you would generally need to have a membership. And Amazon Fresh which delivers grocery directly from its warehouse but requires prime membership to use.
List of U.S. Grocery Stores (Supermarket)
- Weee! (Chinese/Taiwanese Supermarket) $
- 99 Ranch Market (Chinese/Taiwanese Supermarket) $
- H Mart (Korean Supermarket) $
- Target $
- Walmart $
- Amazon Fresh (Need Prime Membership) $
- Whole Foods $$-$$$
- Costco $
- Sam’s Club $
- Ralphs $
- Erewhon Market $$$
- Trader Joe’s $$
- Lassens $$$
- Smart & Final $
- Safeway $
Third-Party Grocery Delivery Services
Third-party grocery delivery services, such as Instacart or Shipt, will designate a person to be your shopper at the local store you pick in the app. The person will be picking out the items you ordered and may text you when they can’t find the item to see if you want to replace it with another item instead.
ELECTRONICS
This category includes online shopping electronics, such as computers, laptops, speakers, xbox, chargers, TV…etc. Best buy is the biggest electronic store in the United States. Most products bought from Best Buy can be returned within 15 days by shopping it back or returning it to its stores.
BH Photo Video and Adorama are reputable electronic shopping platforms and both have 30 day return policies. Electronics on Newegg is mostly from third party sellers so you would need to review the individual seller’s reputation. Electronics on Amazon might be sold by Amazon itself or third-party sellers, so you will need to check which seller you are buying from before adding it to your cart.
TEXTBOOKS
This category includes online shopping for textbooks. It is usually very expensive to buy college-level textbooks in the United States. Brand new textbooks sold through university campus book stores are usually sticker price (i.e., full-price) so most people choose to rent textbooks or buy used textbooks online.
Tip: Use the textbook’s ISBN number to search.
FURNITURE & HOME DECOR
This category includes online shopping for furniture and home decor. The bigger platforms for online furniture shopping in the U.S. would be: Wayfair, Hayneedle, Overstock, Amazon. Wayfair also operates under Perigold, Birch Lane, AllModern, Joss & Main.
Higher end furniture stores in the U.S. would be Restoration Hardware, CB2, Crate & Barrel, West elm…etc. Anthropolgie and Urban Outfitters are mostly known for clothes related goods but sell curated furniture and home décor as well.
- Amazon $-$$
- Overstock $-$$$
- Hayneedle $-$$
- Wayfair $-$$$
- Perigold $$
- Birch Lane $-$$
- AllModern $-$$
- Joss & Main $-$$
- Home depot $-$$
- Lowe’s $-$$
- Macy $$
- Ikea $
- World market $
- Urban outfitters $$
- Muji $
- Target $
- West elm $$-$$$
- CB2 $$-$$$
- Crate & Barrel $$-$$$
- Room & Board $$-$$$
- Restoration Hardware $$$
- Ashley $-$$
- Pier 1 $
- Pottery Barn $$-$$$
- Anthropolgie $$-$$$
- William Sonoma $$-$$$
- Walmart $
- Costco $
- Tjmaxx $
- Article $$
- Local furniture store (search on yelp or google) $-$$$
- Bed Bath & Beyond $
- H&M Home $
- Zara Home $
GIFTS & ARTISTIC UNIQUE ITEMS
USED ITEMS (SECOND HAND)
This category includes online shopping for second hand items in the U.S. Craigslist is a like a posting board where you can buy all sorts things from anyone online. Poshmark, Thredup, Depop are more targeted towards clothes, shoes, and bags. You can also clean out your closet and sell your used clothes to Thredup. When buying from Poshmark and Depop, you are buying from third party sellers. You can also directly sell your second-hand items by listing on Poshmark and Depop. Goodwill is the biggest brick and mortar charity store in the U.S. You can donate your second hand goods to Goodwill and claim a tax deduction.
LUXURY ITEMS
This category includes online shopping for luxury in the U.S., such as for luxury brand clothes, shoes, bags…etc. The biggest luxury department stores in the U.S. would be Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue.
There are also reputable online shopping platforms for out of season luxury brand clothes, shoes, bags, home goods as well, such as The Outnet, Gilt, Rue lala, Bluefly, Yoox…etc. You can typically get big discounted luxury based goods on these type of websites or during sale seasons for the major department stores or online retailers.
- Shopbop $$-$$$
- Yoox $$-$$$
- Farfetch $$$
- Net a porter $$$
- Moda operandi $$$
- Lusaviaroma $$$
- Bergdorf goodman $$$
- Nordstrom $$-$$$
- Neiman Marcus $$$
- Saks Fifth Avenue $$$
- Bloomingdales $$$
- Selfridges (uk) $$$
- Harrods (uk) $$$
- Ssense (Canadian) $$$
- FWRD $$$
- Matches fashion $$$
- My Theresa $$$
- 24s $$$
- The Outnet $$-$$$
- Gilt $$
- Rue lala $$
- Bluefly $$
FASHION (CLOTHES, SHOES, BAGS)
This category includes fashion based items, such as clothes, bags, and shoes. Revolve, Intermix, Anthropologie sell more highly priced and curated items and brands. You can also find these higher priced items in the luxury item list above.
Mid-price range clothing stores you can find in the U.S. would be Urban Outfitters, Zara, Topshop, Abercrombie & Fitch…etc. Urban Outfitters is a well-known brick and mortar clothing store in the U.S. and can usually be found on campus.
Price friendly clothing stores that people usually buy from in the U.S. would include brick and mortar stores such as Brandy Melville, H&M, Forever 21, Gap, UNIQLO, PacSun, Victoria’s Secret, Old Navy, and the mostly internet based online shopping stores such as Asos, Pretty Little Things, Fashion Nova, Shien, Misguided…etc.
- Revolve $$$
- Intermix $$$
- Anthropologie $$$
- Topshop $$
- Ralph Lauren $$-$$$
- Lacoste $$-$$$
- Tommy Hilfiger $$-$$$
- Asos (uk) $
- Urban outfitters $-$$
- Brandy Melville $
- Shien $
- Macy $-$$
- Pretty Little Things $
- Fashion Nova $
- Zappos (shoes) $
- Footlocker (shoes) $
- Misguided $
- Zara $-$$
- Forever 21 $
- H&M $
- Abercrombie & Fitch $$
- UNIQLO $
- Gap $
- Old Navy $
- PacSun $
- Hollister $
- Aeropostale $
- American Eagle $
- Express $
- Ann Taylor $
- Victoria’s Secret (mostly underwear) $
- Banana Republic $$
VINTAGE/PRE-LOVED ITEMS OR OTHER RESELL ONLINE SHOPPING PLATFORM LIST
This category includes higher priced vintage luxury-based clothes, bags, and shoes such as The realreal, Fashionphile, Vestiaire Collective, What goes around comes around, Rebag, or brand new items sold from third party resellers such as Grailed, Stockx. Most of these items are from third party sellers so you would need to remember to evaluate the sellers reputation before purchasing.
DISCOUNT STORES
This category includes online shopping for various types of items, such as clothes, kitchen tools (e.g., pots, pans, utensils), home decorations, out of season luxury brands, jewelry, shoes……etc.
Nordstorm rack is the out of season discount store for Nordstorm. Saks off 5th is the out of season discount store for Saks Fifth Avenue. Neiman Marcus Last Call is the out of season discount store for Neiman Marcus. Outlets can usually be found in surrounding suburbs of a big city (and usually do not have websites that you can buy from directly), such as Desert Hills Premium Outlet for Los Angeles or Woodbury Common Premium Outlet for New York City. You can find heavily discounted luxury-based items in these stores.
More price friendly discount stores are Homegoods (for cushions, home decorations), TJ Maxx (kitchen tools, plates, makeup, clothes), Kohls, Ross, Marshall.
- Nordstorm rack $$
- Saks off 5th $$
- Neiman marcus last call $$
- Outlets $-$$$
- Homegoods $
- Tj maxx $-$$
- Kohls $
- Ross $
- Marshall $
MAKEUP (BEAUTY)
This category includes online shopping for makeup or beauty related items, such as lipsticks, perfumes, foundations, hair sprays…etc. The two biggest stores that sell makeup or beauty related items are: Ulta and Sephora. They sell a mix of price friendly and luxury-based makeup or beauty items, however, Sephora is a little closer to luxury-based than Ulta. Most price friendly makeup or beauty items can be bought at stores such as Ulta, Amazon, CVS, Walmart, Target, etc. Most luxury-based makeup or beauty items can be bought at stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks fifth Avenue, Nordstrom. Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue.
- Sephora $$-$$$
- Ulta $-$$
- Amazon $
- Target $
- Walmart $
- CVS $
- Walgreens $
- Nordstorm $$-$$$
- Neiman Marcus $$$
- Bergdorf Goodman $$$
- Saks fifth Avenue $$$
- Macy’s $$-$$$
- Bloomingdale’s $$-$$$
- Saks Fifth Avenue $$-$$$
TRAVEL (PLANE FLIGHTS & HOTELS)
This category includes online shopping for traveling related items. When flying back home or traveling during summer and winter breaks while living in the United States, you can shop and compare prices for plane tickets and hotels to find the cheapest price with the websites below.
PETS
This category includes online shopping for pets supplies. The shipping for pet supplies (like pet food or pet toys) are usually fast and it is easy to compare prices for the same item before buying it online.
Chewy is a well-known online pet supply store in the United States and offers free 1 to 3 day shipping for orders over $49 dollars. Petsmart and Petco are the 2 most well-known brick and mortar pet supply stores in the United States, and both offer free shipping for orders over $49 dollars as well. You can also buy pet supplies from Amazon which may be sold directly from Amazon itself or other third-party sellers. Amazon usually offers free shipping for orders over $25 dollars.
PLANTS & FLOWERS
This category includes online shopping for plants. There are generally no problems with having a plant mailed to you quickly and well-packaged within the United States. You can buy plants from third party sellers on Etsy and Amazon-make sure to check the seller’s reviews. Home Depot and Lowe’s are the 2 biggest home improvement goods (e.g., building supplies like wood, carpet, hardware, tools…etc.) in the United States. However, the plants at Home Depot or Lowe’s don’t seem as healthy as the plants from the smaller sellers from Etsy.
- Etsy
- Amazon
- Home depot
- Lowe’s
- Local Nursery (search on Yelp or google maps)
SAVE MONEY WHILE SHOPPING ONLINE IN THE U.S.A.
International students (F1 visa students, J1 visa students, M1 visa students) or foreign worker (H1B work visa, O1 work visa, L1 work visa, P1 work visa) who mostly shop online can use a cash back browser extension or website/app that shows you current discount or promo codes to save money while living in the U.S.A.
Rakuten is a cash back browser extension that when activated, you can earn cash back from shopping at certain websites that they partner up with. In other words, if you shop through Rakuten, you can get cash back from your purchase. You can get paid with your cash back through Paypal or a check.
Dealmoon is a website and app that provides discount and promo codes for online shopping stores in the U.S.A. Dealmoon is always updating and has a robust Chinese speaking community. There are also a lot of resources about living in the U.S.A. It has a Chinese or English version. Dealmoon is strongly Recommended for Chinese-speaking users.
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