Saving time, saving money while Christmas shopping

My wife and I no longer desire to visit brick and mortar retail stores, especially during the holiday buying season. In fact, my wife prides herself on completing nearly 100% of her Christmas shopping entirely online, without visits to the local mall.

In the past, it crossed my mind that this might seem a bit impersonal. After all, gift giving should not be about obligation. Each gift should be thoughtfully paired to it’s recipient. While I struggle, my wife excels at that.

With the breadth of eclectic products that can be purchased online, I’ve come to agree that online shopping truly can replace the tactile experience of in-store shopping. No more jambed parking lots, packed aisles and fuss. I can truly withdraw from society except for the occasional trips to the Post Office.

With that in mind I offer these last minute Christmas shopping tips:

• It’s not too late to still take advantage of free shipping to have your packages delivered before Christmas.
• When filling out online order forms, be sure to do a quick Google search on “promo codes” for the retailer. You’d be surprised how often you’ll find something (i.e. 5% off, $5 off, free shipping, etc.) to use at the online checkout.
• Signup and use Upromise.com. Login and click through to the online merchant to gain additional credits (i.e. 1-3%, etc.) towards your account.
• Check if the retailer is part of a family of brands that might offer a discount. For example, ThePopcornFactory.com is part of 1800flowers.com.
• Upromise users who also have a Citi Upromise MasterCard get 1% credit to their account on purchases made with participating merchants.
• Consider paying a few bucks extra to have the retailer ship the present to the recipient, especially if you are concerned you might not get it in time. That also saves you from having to wrap it. Your time is valuable, no sense adding more pressure on you the day before Christmas.

Point is, be a savvy shopper. Keep breathing. Try to relax. Enjoy the holidays.
Merry Christmas!

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.