Online Christmas shopping?

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Over the past few years I've done a lot of my Christmas shopping online and wondered how many of you have or are doing the same thing this year.

It's become so common with us now that Christmas gift suggestions we all send to one another always include the website URL. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif It's even become kind of an unspoken rule that it's up to the person who is offering the Christmas gift ideas to have "pre-shopped" and found the best pricing, etc., online and to have sent that URL and maybe the second best as a back-up, too.

Since my kids are each out of town now, they're able to have gifts for me sent to their Mom's and gifts for her sent to my office so all they need to do is swing by, pick them up and wrap them and they're all set. We've found it to be a wonderful way to shop and also to offer simple suggestions for things we'd like, too.

Has anyone else gotten to this point with the online shopping? I just love it this way. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[r0GuE]

We did quite a bit last year. It's a great way to save some money, and many places offer free shipping this time of year.

As I get older, I find myself trying to find ways to make Christmas more real. I don't really mean relidgeously, though I know that is the biggest aspect of the season. I just want my Chistmas to be more of an old style Chistmas. Think 1950's. Last year I bought a post was (1954) Lionel train with the smoke pellets and such. We always get a real tree. I use c7 lights on the tree, c9's outside. Bubble lights too, the works!

So when it comes to shopping, I think this year I will take some pre-Chistmas vacation and do a little shopping for some local style gifts.

But for comoditee type gifts such as electonics, and games, on-line is a great way to go. Sometimes avoiding the stores helps maintain the holiday cheer.

 

[Gatorboy]

I do about 90% of my shopping online. If you know what you are trying to buy as a gift, it is the only way to go. No fighting the crowds.

Now, some stores, (e.g. Sears, JCPenney) when they offer something like 20% off from 7a-10a on a certain day -- that SAME offer is given to their online shoppers as well. My wife bought some items on Saturday morning (between 7a-10a) and got the same 20% discount as if she drove out to the store herself.

 

[Docsknotinn]

The last few years I have don 90+% on line. This year everything I have tried to order is back ordered /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[kevincook]

I tell my wife that <font color="blue">men </font> <font color="black"> </font> invented the internet just so we wouldn't actually have to go to the mall! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I try to do as much shopping as possible online, the crowds in the stores just drives me nuts.

Kevin

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "I tell my wife that men invented the internet just so we wouldn't actually have to go to the mall!" </font> /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

That is FUNNY! And, like most things, it wouldn't be funny if there weren't an element of truth in it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[DocHeb]

I will buy some things on-line, but usually items that I can't find locally. My personal rule is if I need to talk to a salesperson, or go somewhere to see the item and examine it, then I will buy it locally. How can any Bricks & Walls business stay afloat if they only serve as a showroom to display items for on-line shoppers? The Bricks & Walls have to hire the staff and pay for the inventory, only to have people use them to see the displays, talk with the staff, make their choice, and then go on-line to order the goods. This happened to our local paint & wallpaper store - my wife loved to go there since they had all the books and she could talk with somebody about the goods. We would always order from them; now the store dropped wallpaper since more and more people were using them just for display purposes, getting the paper codes, and ordering on-line.

At the risk of starting another mega-thread, I think on-line shopping will be able to wipe-out the quality/specialty stores that WalMart couldn't get. Hey, what about an on-line WalMart that could sell us everything? ... wait ... that's Amazon!

 

[AndyM]

Ordering online costs the store less money, but actually costs more money for the company that makes the product.

Our company is shipping orders directly to the consumer's home for orders from walmart.com and others, rather than shipping it to Walmart first. When we ship product to the Walmart distribution center, it's always in full truckload quantities, but shipping directly to the consumer is one piece at a time and much more time consuming. This is especially true for us because we didn't expect anywhere near this many internet orders (compared to last year)! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Gatorboy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hey, what about an on-line WalMart that could sell us everything? )</font>

Wal*Mart already has a website that you can order stuff from.

As technology grows, so must the old Mom & Pop stores. As well as having a REAL store, they should also have a website to sell items as well. There is no rule saying you can't do both.

 

[Docsknotinn]

I agree with that. It really seems that all buisinesses that want to remain viable will need to offer both store fronts and virtual stores. Some of this drives prices down but it works the other way too. When shopping specialty wines for Xmas partys the last few years the prices have been much higher. Many stores are pice fixing on select vintages useing the final sales price off eBay or similar on line auctions.