A few years ago, while shopping for Christmas, I was feeling bored, stagnant, tired of walking up and down the same store aisles. Everything on the shelves seemed bland. I'd looked at the same old things a thousand times. There were the usual sweaters, jewelry, electronics. They were nice things, granted, things I wouldn't mind having myself, but I just didn't feel like buying them. I wasn't feeling inspired by them.
I decided it was time to try something new. So being a veteran internet junkie, I turned to the web for holiday gift-giving inspiration. I'd shopped on the net before, often buying books from Amazon, or special-ordering items that weren't easily-found in local stores, but strangely enough, I'd never though of actually doing the bulk of my Christmas shopping online.
I turned on my computer, connected to the internet, and started browsing, following links in advertisements and doing a generic "gifts" search on a search engine. After an hour, I'd grown bored and I hadn't found a single gift to buy. Frustrated, I shut down the computer and gave up on the shopping for the day. Obviously, it wasn't working as I'd hoped.
When I came back to it, I tried a different approach. Instead of following random links and surfing from web store to web store, I thought about the shopping. I thought about the people I was buying for, their interests, their hobbies, the things in life that they truly like.
My one brother drives a tow truck. So I pulled up the search engine, typed in "towing" and "gifts" and sure enough, a number of sites came up. In minutes I'd found a cool set of glass mugs etched with different tow trucks and placed an order. I was thrilled, and in that moment, I'd officially changed my gift shopping habits forever.
The internet has made it easier than ever to shop for special gifts. No longer are we, as shoppers, limited to browsing the same old aisles in the store. While I agree it's important to continue to support our local merchants (and I continue to do so whenever possible), I also want to make sure that I get just the right gift for the right person, and the internet allows me to do just that.
Targeted gift shopping is easy. From favorite colors to favorite television shows, the bottom line is that we generally know plenty about the people we're buying gifts for. Even the hardest people to buy for have likes and interests. I've found that by typing an interest into a search engine and then adding the word "gifts" or "merchandise" at the end of the search criteria, you often find a wealth of potential web stores and gift ideas.
Be specific. Rather than using "gardening" as a keyword search, try to narrow it down a little more. Maybe what the recipient really likes is orchids, or butterfly gardening. Don't hesitate to be as specific as you can. You'll be surprised -- there are shops out there for just about everything.
You can also use the internet to order specialty catalogs. Many are free, and the ones that aren't generally give you money off of your first order.
Many people hesitate to shop online because of shipping charges, but the truth is that if you shop right, you can actually save money by shopping online. At holiday times, many merchants waive shipping fees on orders over a certain dollar amount. Plus, if you sign up to be notified of special deals from your favorite merchants, you'll often get coupons for free shipping or generous discounts off of merchandise. You can also use your search engine to search for coupons for a particular merchant once you've found something you wish to purchase.
You're also saving yourself the gas money you would have spent to take a shopping trip outside the home and with gas prices so exorbitant these days, that's a savings in itself. Plus, at the holidays, shopping malls are busy and the convenience of shopping from the comfort of your own home is priceless.
Besides, aren't the people you care about worth the effort of finding something that they'll really like? The bottom line is that you just aren't going to find the same, specialized gift items by browsing through the local department store. Taking the time to target your gift shopping in order to find just the right gift is a gift in itself, because after all, in gift giving, it really is the thought that counts.
