Forsaking the mall for the mouse to do Christmas shopping

BY JULIA ELLIOTT
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Julia Elliott writes for Style Weekly.

Christmas shopping online or instore? A lot depends on the buying ritual. Do you love it or hate it? The onliners are the time-squeezed, the anti-crowd set. The tech nerds who sip java as they pin eyes on flickering monitors. They hunt for rare things, seldom seen by others, say purple velvet Converse running shoes. The tech mind travels the planet for a slew of styles and prices. A mouse clicks. Within minutes, the object is in a shopping cart — quick as Santa’s fall down the chimney.

Those who like tech and street combine both. They mine the Internet for gift details, then hit the shops. It’s facts plus the exercise, fresh air and sensory high of tissue, tinsel, trees and the like. Plus they get to socialize with fellow shoppers at caffeine hangouts. Call it tech-based nostalgia.

Of course, street shopping has irritants that online shuns: parking, traffic jams, pricey fuel fillups, slush, phoning for store hours, clueless sales people, change-room lineups, major inventory gaps, crowds — and those tiresome sales predators who eyeball and greet every wallet that enters their domain.  

Although more Canadians use retail websites for consumer research than for buying, online sales are growing, says Jim Okamura, senior partner with the J. C. Williams Group, a Toronto retail consulting firm. Last year, total Canadian online sales accounted for only about 1.6 per cent of total retail sales, says the Chicago-based retail analyst. “The U.S. was at 6.6 per cent and the U.K. is at 5.4 per cent.”

Hot online buys this Christmas? IPods, digital cameras and tech fashion. Those cute but inessential cellphone charms and designer laptop cases. Plus the usual buys: books, CDs and electronic items.

Best Buy reports a rush on the Braun Tassimo 1-Cup Hot Beverage Maker, notes The New York Times. It makes “ single servings of coffee, cappuccino, espresso and hot chocolate and is, the company notes, perfect for a couple that cannot agree on what to drink in the morning.”

Okamura’s list includes DVDs, gift cards, jewelry, clothing and services such as spa time. In the U.S., jewelry doubled its online sales from 2003 to 2004, he says. Why? “It’s the clumsy male shopper who doesn’t know how to buy jewelry properly, and just feels out of sorts and intimidated in a lot of jewelry stores.”

Okamura points to BlueNile.com, a Seattle-based jewelry retailer doing a lot of business in high-end diamonds and engagement rings. “They take that fear factor out for a lot of male shoppers,” he notes. The site provides lots of consumer information such as how to choose an engagement ring and how to suit the diamond to the girl.

Wendy Evans, a Toronto retail consultant, calls online shopping “instant gratification,” especially when getting product information. “Making a telephone call to a retailer is pretty painful these days,” she notes. Trying to find somebody in a computer department, say, to get on the phone and answer some questions is next to impossible.

An online alternative is a website dedicated to comparison shopping. Denise Shortt, a partner in Swing Think, a new Toronto marketing website, suggests pricecanada.com. It’s a new search engine for computers, computer accessories and electronics.

Another option is Shoptoit.ca, a Calgarybased website. It’s a search engine with brand information and retail links. Shoptoit.ca lists home theatre systems, lingerie, movies and CDs, among other products from brands Sony, La Senza, Dell, Toys-RUs and others.  Before Christmas, the site also expects to list books for a total of some 700,000 products. Retailers must ship their goods from a Canadian location so buyers incur no duty or U.S. dollar charges. “People are researching like crazy,” says Clark Johannson of Shop To It. “They’re making a (buying) decision before they even walk into their store.”

It’s no surprise online shopping spikes at this time of year. Shortt shares some Statistics Canada figures. “In the 2004 holiday season, more than 3.5 million Canadian adults purchased at least one gift online.  That was up from 2.2 million in 2003. So you’re seeing almost a 60-per-cent increase from 2003 to 2004.”

Where are women shopping online? Virtual mall websites are one hot spot. One website, yourshops.ca, is a new online department store that links with more than 45 stores, including Lands’ End, La Senza and the Shopping Channel.  Another frequent call-up is a spa-related site, Wayspa.com, says Shortt. “There’s such a trend in spas right now and Wayspa.com offers you an opportunity to get spa deals … You’re getting yourself ready for the Christmas season and also it’s excellent for gift certificates.” (Ottawa listings are coming soon.)

Clothing — with its size, style and colour variables — has always been a more difficult online buy than, say, books. But Shortt says women are not as gun-shy anymore. With jeans, for example, women who know their favourite brand and cut can order with more confidence. Children’s clothes are another almost sure bet.

According to In Style magazine, Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon are fans of Auto, a New York shop in the trendy Meatpacking District. Auto’s online variety at thisisauto.comincludes design-conscious items for home, baby and stylish guys. Good-looking cashmere teddy bears are date material. Redenvelope.com is known for its signature red gift boxes. Red Envelope’s gift guides include wreaths, votives, inspiration bracelets and monogrammed soaps. According to The Wall Street Journal, the site provides “random facts about popular gift categories — such as Napoleon’s fondness for giving cashmere to his wife — along with practical information such as how to care for silver properly.”

Other online sites, which ship to Canada, are adding more consumer appeal with tailored gift guides for select groups. Amazon.ca posts a slew of gift lists in recipient, price and age categories. You’ll find specific goods for the fashionista, sweetheart, urban sophisticate, sports fan and outdoorsy type, among others. There’s even help for those who have everything. Victoriasecret.com, the home of class lingerie, offers gift ideas from barely-there push-up bras to cosy flannel pajamas. The site’s gift list for stocking stuffers includes faux fur accessories for iPods and UGGS shearling key chains. Mypetboutique.com caters to the desires of dogs and cats. My Pet Boutique, the store, is found on Cumberland Street near Bay Street in Toronto. Leevalleytools.com isn’t all garden and woodworking toys. You can also find Holey Soles, the cool clogs with air holes, plus a collection of syndicated cartoons from the Our Boarding House series.Sephora.com is makeup central with more than 265 brands. The site offers lists for him, her and teens. Stocking stuffers include Cargo colour cards, otherwise known as portable eye shadow, and mini hand creams by l’Occitane. Crateandbarrel.com covers the homefront from rugs and flatware to midnight popcorn and cranberry chutney.

Joanne Hughes of Vanier likes to get the facts before she bids for goods on the ebay website. When I watch her search for Christmas gifts in her study, the site seems hardwired to her brain; she’s a frequent hunter for unique items. A manager at the nearby Crichton Cultural Community Centre, Hughes has shopped the stores, but on the Internet she more easily finds better made and more educational goods. One example? Children’s gifts. Her daughter Enid might get a namesake sign from the city of Enid, Oklahoma.

“You go to Toys-R-Us a month before Christmas,” says Hughes, “you see the parents. All of us look frazzled. You’ve got the cart loaded with these huge boxes. It’s just the same stuff they’ve got. I don’t like that. I find it really demoralizing.”

Not the case with a recent eBay gift search for her parents.  They used to have a bed and breakfast in Canmore, Alberta, in front of the Three Sisters Mountain Range. Hughes found an old coloured postcard of the mountains, circa 1910. This is a keepsake gift, certainly not a candidate for the re-gifting cupboard — a precious online score from the tech arms of the universe.