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On-Line Shopping

The Christmas season is here. Time for all good consumers to go out and buy lots of stuff... but before I'm compared to Ebeneezer Scrooge, let me set the record straight. I enjoy the holiday season, I just hate shopping. Strolling through crowded malls looking for gifts is not my idea of a relaxing, fun day. On those rare occasions when I venture to a mall, a Barnes & Noble, or some other shop, I have a 60 mile drive to prepare myself for the upcoming ordeal (askSam is in Perry, Florida -- affectionately referred to as the "Silicon Swamp" -- we have to drive to Tallahassee to find "real" stores).

On-line shopping is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, the experts project that this holiday season will be the most successful ever. Even if you're a die-hard shopper, it's worth taking a stroll through a few on-line stores. At the very least, you may walk away with some great gift ideas, and who knows, you may find some tremendous bargains.

Why do I prefer shopping on-line?  No crowds, no long checkout lines, no parking hassles... but there's more:

1. I can shop from home (which saves me 120 miles of driving).

2. On-line shopping fits my schedule. My ventures to cyber-stores are normally after I've put the kids to bed.

3. The Web is a great place for gift ideas. I once bought my wife a shovel for her birthday (or maybe it was for Christmas)... it wasn't as well received as I'd hoped (she likes gardening). Some of the on-line sites offer gift suggestions for friends, kids, wives, etc.

    I found some neat stuff on the RedEnvelope site (http://www.redenvelope.com), and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com),  and Yahoo (http://shopping.yahoo.com) both have a bunch of gift suggestions (although I was disappointed not to find shovels listed under the romantic gift category).

4. Compare prices and find bargains on-line. Imagine how wonderful it would be to pop on the Web, type in the name of a product, and find out the best price for this item. This is exactly what sites like MySimon (http://mysimon.com) and other comparison shopping sites try and do. It works well for books, music, and computer products... but not quite as well for clothing. There are also some neat shareware products which help on-line shoppers compare prices.

    See http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2826649,00.html for details on a couple of these products.

5. Neither my wife nor I are originally from the Swamp. Our nearest relations are about 1,000 miles away. Many are in Europe. When we purchase on-line, we can have the items gift wrapped, and sent directly to their destination. When we buy gifts for friends or family outside the U.S., we order from stores in those countries. You can save a bundle on shipping charges by doing this.

On-line shopping has improved over the past few years. Nearly all the big name retailers (Walmart, Target, JC Penny, The Gap, and Macy's) have on-line stores. They've spent big bucks trying to make on-line shopping as easy and convenient as possible.

I'm a happy man. I've done nearly all of my Christmas shopping while writing this article. Even if you look forward to spending a day in the mall -- check out the Web. You'll find some great gift ideas, and you'll have an idea of how much you'll be spending before you head off to the stores.

Enjoy the holidays,

Phil Schnyder

Related Links:

http://www.safeshopping.org/tips/index.html - pro bono advice on safe on-line shopping from the American Bar Association.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/cybrsmrt.htm - on-line shopping advice from the Federal Trade Commission.

http://mysimon.com - compare products and prices on the Web

http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2826649,00.html - Article on comparison shopping shareware applications.

Some On-Line Stores...

http://www.amazon.com - Amazon

http://www.gap.com - The Gap

http://www.jcpenney.com - JC Penney

http://www.macys.com - Macy's

http://www.redenvelope.com - Red Envelope

http://www.target.com/ - Target

http://www.walmart.com/ - Walmart

http://shopping.yahoo.com/ - Yahoo Shopping