Though most people look forward to the tons of fun and festivities which typically follow the holidays months, the final few months of the year can also be saddled with stress, as time and money are both stretched gauze thin.
The more time you can carve from your busy schedule, and the more money you can save, starting the week before Thanksgiving and going through to the end of the year, the more of the holidays’ true benefits you’ll enjoy.
Doing your holiday shopping online might just be the answer to end of the year bliss!
The days when you were forced to fight mall crowds while burning through untold gallons of gas to wage your annual savings safari are dead. Though, of course, so are most of the crowds. Most people are now wise enough to know that getting the majority of your holiday shopping done online is the best way to save your time, money, and sanity during the holiday shopping season.
Here are 4 reasons why shopping online can save you time and money:
1) Shopping Online Makes It Easy To Compare Prices
Online, comparison shopping could’t be easier. There are countless websites which exist to aid shoppers in finding the lowest possible price. Just about any e-commerce site you visit will have a built in search engine to help you hone in on exactly what you want by letting you easily compare products with pictures and descriptions side-by-side.
In addition, reader reviews are a large part of the online shopping experience. Take Amazon, for example, where reviews are a major contributing factor fueling the sale of particular products. The more customers there are leaving positive reviews of a product, the more Amazon will recommend that product to shoppers.
The same is true for most online retailers, big and small, yet Amazon is still one of the the best places to price shop. They have a massive variety of products, but even better, they will have the most results and the lowest prices for most items you’re looking for.
2) It’s Easier to Get Better Deals
Comparison shopping is easy, but beyond that, there are also a ton of couponing sites online that treat hunting for bargains as though it were a blood sport.
There are also many “deal of the day” like sites posting the latest deals and highlighting everything from electronics to travel to close to food.
Even if you don’t make your final purchases online, looking for the best deals on the Internet can help you make the best possible purchasing decisions in the event that you do have to hit your local mall.
3) Online Shopping Helps You Get What You Really Want
If you’re not wasting your time running all around creation in search of bargains and ideas, you can spend more time gathering research, price comparisons, and reader reviews. Then, when you actually make your purchases, your choices are likely to be much better overall.
How many times have you bought something that seemed like a great idea in your head, only to end up with something that wasn’t quite what you thought it would be?
Start out with a general idea of what you want, take the time to go online and see what’s available, then measure your options against your budget and what other customers are saying, and you can make a better decision that will make you more likely to get what you really wanted, rather than what you happened to find in the time allotted.
4) Take Advantage of Free Shipping
You’ve gotta love free shipping!
Not everyone offers free shipping, but you will find that retailers are fiercely competitive around the holidays. Any major online retailer will probably have some sort of free shipping offer from Thanksgiving through the end of the year. December 16 is a day when retailers traditionally offer free shipping. If not, Amazon always does.
Free shipping solves time and money problems. Not only do you save money by not having to bleed ridiculous amounts for gas and parking, you will also save all the unneeded hours you might have otherwise wasted, running to and fro.
Simply order what you want, then wait for it to arrive. You can even have it gift-wrapped if you’d like.
Shopping online is smart, just make sure you stay safe by checking privacy and security seals, return policies, and any miscellaneous fine print.
{ 0 comments… add one now }