Shopping Online: Free shipping may be 'in' this year

If hearing seven different versions of "Silent Night" in six different stores is enough to drive you to drink, you're probably among the millions of people who have ditched the mall for your mouse. Shopping online is expected to be more popular than ever this year, and with consumers minding their pennies, free shipping is expected to be a big deal this winter holiday season.

"The economy will drive more people online to look for the best prices," said Kurt Peters, editor-in-chief of Internet Retailer.

Forrester research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts consumers will spend $44 billion online in November and December, a 12% increase compared with the same period last year. But 45% of online consumers say they plan to buy less this holiday season. Still, 27% expect to spend more online this year than last year. The bulk of online spending by consumers comes from purchases of apparel, books, DVDs and music.

"While consumers remain pessimistic about the health of the U.S. economy, online shopping drivers of convenience, selection, and perceived value will continue to attract buyers to the Web," Mulpuru wrote in a report.

This year, nearly 80% of consumers said they were more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping, compared with 60% who said that last year. Online retailers are rushing to accommodate them. Comparison shopping site PriceGrabber recently announced that it was launching a free shipping site for shoppers. On the same day, PayPal announced free shipping deals with some of its partners, and cash-back deals with retailers such as Blockbuster and eToys. EBay will also be offering free shipping on some items.

While the Friday after Thanksgiving is typically the day brick-and-mortar retailers expect crowds, online shoppers don't really start buying until the Monday after the holiday, when they return to work. Consumers spent $730 million on that Monday last year, according to ComScore. But the second Monday in December is the really big day for online shoppers, who are hustling to buy things that will arrive in time for the holidays. On last year's "Green Monday," as it is now called, consumers spent $880 million online.

If you're ready to shop but not quite sure where to look, try visiting some social shopping sites such as ThisNext and Kaboodle, which are expected to be popular this year. On the sites, people recommend gifts for categories such as Music Lover, Hostess, and Person Who Has Everything, which should help you brainstorm some good gifts and find out where to buy them online, leaving you more time to enjoy "Silent Night," whichever version you prefer, in the comfort of your home.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo by Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[garwoodpr]

Consolidate Gifts to Save Money

Families that are looking for ways to reduce the impact of long holiday gift lists can consolidate purchases and make Group Gifts this year to save money.

Take for example school-related gift lists, where teachers, teachers aides, administrators and other student gifts can easily run past a hundred dollars.

Consider consolidating these gifts into one Classroom Gift that all the students can benefit from and enjoy.

Include a holiday card for the teacher explaining that even in these tough times, you appreciate the hard work and dedication that they and the school invest in your child, and that your hope is the entire class (and even next year’s class) will benefit from the educational item(s) you have provided for the students.

A Classroom Gift like Alphabet-Number-Pattern Worksheets from TAGToys.com ($24.95) for grades K – 2 helps children learn how to make numbers by tracing Template Numbers with their fingers (which replicates the written stroke). The exercise helps children gain comfort before converting the skill to pencil and paper.

Visit www.TAGToys.com for age appropriate high-quality eco-friendly classroom gift ideas. TAG Toys is a family owned U.S. company that proudly makes earth-friendly wooden toys that help children Learn, Think and Grow, call toll free 800-488-4824 or visit http://www.TAGToys.com

[Ed Henrich]

A lot more websites are already offering free shipping. 31% offered free shipping two weeks ago, now 41% offer. See more detailed stats on my blog at

http://thisweekinetail.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-retailers-offering-free-shipping.html

[Wes]

Another bonus to shopping online at sites like Sortprice.com is you automatically save some money by not driving. Convenience and selection are always better as well and you're assured of having no crowds/lines to deal with either:

http://www.sortprice.com/

[Johnny]

Hey Alana, great post.

With more people shopping online now than ever before, consumers might think they are getting the best price by using certain websites to compare prices from all over the internet, but they've still got to be careful with that. I just read an article that compared the different comparison shopping engines and the results are interesting. http://tinyurl.com/5e3cna

Consumer should definitely check out deal forums because they have a lot of bundles and coupons that you won't find with comparison shopping engines.

I work for a company called Wishabi (http://www.wishabi.com) where users wish for items they want and our deal hunters find the best deals for these items. The consumers win because they get the best prices and don't have to spend time searching the internet, and the deal hunters win because they share the commissions with Wishabi. Our users can also buy with confidence because each deal is run through our Deal Rank algorithm which lets the users know how good a deal is based on historical pricing, price volatility, user feedback and other factors.

With the deals we've been seeing so far, there should be some really great deals leading up to Black Friday and beyond Green Monday (is it Cyber Monday too?) .

A site I've found useful is http://shipgooder.com/ which compares shipping rates across a bunch of different companies instantly. It's really fun.

Hope this is helpful

Johnny

[reizit.com]

e-commerce is getting more and more popular. this creates the need of having good tools to help shoppers make right decisions while buying online. reizit.com is a place where shoppers can recommend or bury a product, share experience and discuss shopping deals.