3 Ways To Streamline Online Shopping
The 2012 Holiday season will go down in the history books for online retailers. Not only did Black Friday show unexpected growth for e-tailers, who traditionally see growth on Cyber Monday, but comScore reports that total online sales for Black Friday 2012 reached $1.042 billon. A first for online spending. With more and more of us clicking for the perfect gift, how can you make sure your online shopping process is even easier?
Search Outside of the Google Box
Google is a great tool for many things. You can ask them anything and Google provides you with more than enough information. When you aren’t sure exactly what you want to buy—Google is there to help. However, if you know you are looking for a certain item such as a camera, sites like decide.com are a viable option.
The great thing about Decide is how they leverage, “data and technology to help shoppers.” They do this by searching, “billions of price points across millions of products, blog posts, and articles on the web to enable shoppers to make the best buying decision possible.”
Another great website to help streamline your shopping experience is Shopilly. Here you can follow your favorite brands and get an alert when they release a new product. As they say on their website, “think of Shopilly as your personal start page for shopping.”
Get Social
You don’t need the help of websites for the brands you already love. Following a brand’s Facebook page (you can find The Lakeside Collection page here) allows you to stay up-to-date on any sales, promotions and new products being introduced. Here at Lakeside, we like to think of our Facebook page as a community where our customers can connect and find great items at the same time.
Utilize the Shopping Cart
Putting something in a virtual shopping cart doesn’t mean you have to buy it. If you see a product you might want (like this one), add it to your cart. Once you have looked over everything on a site, review your cart and see if you truly want all the items. It’s easier to decide on the 10 items in your cart than the thousands of items that are on the site. You can always put back an item if you change your mind.
Bonus Tip: Be Safe
Just like shopping offline, make sure you are buying from a reputable retailer. The site should use a secure connection. You can check this by looking at their web address. Make sure it says “https” at the beginning of their web address once you start the checkout process. The “s” stands for secure. Also, look for retailers that let you create accounts. This can help streamline your order and make your shopping experience more secure.
Are you an avid online shopper? What are your favorite shopping tips? Let us know in the comments below.
Image Credit: Gemesis
