According to a recent Harris Interactive Poll, 24% of online users say they are increasing their web-based shopping. 25% say that they are using the web more to research products and read reviews. These percentages are even higher with the 18-34 year-old group. All of which could very well mean a slow holiday season for brick and mortar stores and shopping malls.
The upsides? Less driving around looking for parking spaces. Less getting out in the cold. The downsides? Leaner commissions for department store sales people. Less yuletide cheer for everyone.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. 54% of those in the same study say they are spending less actual face time with friends and relatives. 31% say they are experiencing more and more feelings of loneliness in this chilly, virtual world. When the hustle and bustle of standing in long lines goes away, when canned holiday music blasting over the PA system is silenced, when we are no longer hauling festive shopping bags full of holiday booty up and down crowded escalators, is it really Christmas anymore?
Lauren Boyer at Mashable has a suggestion to help us past the holiday gloom: “Don’t shop online alone.” Boyer points us to such sites as Stylefeeder, and Kaboodle. These clever websites attempt to fill the loneliness void by creating a social network of people with the same taste in clothes, electronics and cheeseboards. Users can make shopping lists, join groups, get product suggestions and share their finds with each other. These networking sites have everything but hot mull cider.
So this holiday shopping season may actually offer the best of both worlds. You can avoid the crowds and never shop alone.
