OnlineShopping posts

DailyCandy, the often irreverent, quirky guide to style and scene has developed a devoted following of online fashionistas seeking to be first to find out who, what and where is hip, fresh and now. Offering tips and trend alerts via email categorized by region and "everywhere" (i.e.national), the website will soon be taking the next logical step toward global style domination. Instead of just talking about fashion, they will be selling it.

According to the National Retail Federation, 42.4% of the U.S. population plans to shop for gifts online this holiday season. It's convenient, makes for pain free price comparisons, and saves a good bit of money in sales tax.

Savvy readers have mastered the art of collecting coupon codes online and know never to shop a national retailer's Web site without first checking for discounts.

But there are some things about physically shopping that can't be replaced. The social aspect of spending the day out with family, pairing up with a favorite shopping buddy, and adding lunch or spa visit to make holiday shopping more than just braving the crowds.

First books, now movies, the price wars between the biggest retailers just keep getting hotter. Walmart, Target and Amazon are all slashing pre-order pricing on some hot new releases like "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

Walmart said Thursday it would reduce prices for soon to be released DVDs to $10 at Walmart.com. Target and Amazon quickly followed, threw in free shipping and forced Walmart to drop its prices down to $9.98. Keep in mind, the deals are for online pre-orders of movies not yet released.

All this price cuttings seems like a great deal for consumers, but is it really? Highly competitive pricing can't be sustained for long, or extended to the entire category. Retailers simply can't sell things at a financial loss indefinitely. They do it to increase traffic, turn up the marketing machine, get a lot of press and sell other, more profitable items.

There's little surprising news out of the high-low fashion collaboration trend these days. H&M pacts with a fierceness icon and splashes them across a billboard; Gap gets up-and-comers to sketch khakis and white shirts. Target stocks designer collections as regularly as it does dorm essentials.

But today, smack dab in the middle of Fashion Week, the cheap-chic sector has come out with a curveball. Narciso Rodriguez, couturier to Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker and Rachel Weisz, is producing a line of clothing that will top out at $350 (his pieces usually run $1,000 and up).

His partner in this scheme? eBay.

Now, this is different. Fashion-focused consumers are well-acquainted with eBay; in the search for that elusive, last-season, sold-out item, it can be a handy tool. But the clothing segment of the site spans an enormous range of products, from secondhand sweatpants to pristine couture gowns. There is also -- and this has long been the sticking point in the relationship between fashion and eBay -- an inundation of fakes. It's the Canal Street of cyberspace. Rodriguez is wading into seriously untested, wild waters.

He's also making a conscious decision to expand his audience. The vast majority of Americans have no reason to know who Rodriguez is. Many of us will likely still find his diffusion line for eBay to be out of our price range. But even the eBay users who don't end up buying any Narciso-for-eBay will likely see Rodriguez's name somewhere on the site in the course of their browsing. When you put your brand in the position of being seen by Internet shoppers who are searching for lawn mowers or textbooks, you've gone mass in a way that no H&M flavor of the month has.

It all goes back to the zeitgeist of this year's shows, the feeling in the air that fashion may be finally considering the world outside its tight traditional circles. I never thought I'd see the day when Narciso joined the world of of combined shipping and last-minute bids -- and I'll certainly be logging on when the line launches this spring. eBay might want to beef up its server capacity -- fashion hounds are hunting for bargains more than ever before.

For people who don't like to wander around a mall and shop -- and I realize I'm probably talking to mostly men -- shopping online is perfect.

No stores with salespeople asking you what you're looking for when you don't even know yourself. No driving or parking hassles or gas to buy. No crowds. And it's easy to compare prices online.

The downside is not having your purchase in your hands immediately. Even with overnight shipping, no one wants to wait for the nifty, must-have gadget or have to wonder if the shirt they bought will fit correctly.

Now comes a Web site that combines the best of both worlds -- browsing for the best deal online, and picking it up at your local store for instant gratification.

MIlo.com saves shoppers time and money by letting them compare local store prices at home. With more than 1 million products in more than 27,000 stores, Milo users can find products from cameras to books to clothes, and read reviews and compare prices before going to the store to buy them. Milo also lists if the product is in stock, so you won't go away empty handed when you arrive.

It's been a rough week for Best Buy. The Minneapolis-based chain has barely gotten rival Circuit City out of its hair - thanks to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and subsequent liquidation -- when word comes that Wal-Mart is angling for a piece of the electronic giant's flat-screen pie. Now, Best Buy also has to worry that its chief rival could be back, albeit as a web-only enterprise, the preferred form of zombie retail brands everywhere.

A new Circuit City website has popped up and is making the rounds of tech blogs. There's a healthy amount of skepticism as to whether or not new owner Systemax will actually pull off this resurrection. The site itself is sparse on details, promising shipping starting at $1.99 and a grand reveal "in a few days" (their words, not ours.)

For what it's worth, Systemax is experienced at this sort of thing; the company picked up the CompUSA brand name, online operations and a handful of stores at the Chapter 11 yard sale CompUSA's "restructuring specialist" held back in early 2008.

Living in an economy that is going through the shredder has some benefits for consumers looking for price breaks. Ever since people realized they couldn't afford to drive much, the lack of demand has helped bring on low gas prices, for one thing. We have a built-in, believable excuse to use when a telemarketer calls ("I'd like to pay for your service, but I'm broke") if we're not the sort to just hang up on them. And since nobody is spending money and retailers really, really want your business, there are some incredible shopping deals to be had.

And nowhere is that more apparent lately than on the Web, according to a recent New York Times story. It's an insightful article with a lot of examples of the deals going on, and so for anyone who wants a quick cheat sheet on, I thought I'd provide you some of the deals the article mentions:

Other than window shop, I haven't done any serious online shopping yet, and I admit, I'm kind of glad. Because clearly, I need a plan.

In the old days, I'd just browse an online store, see something I liked, and if I could afford it, I clicked and made my purchase.

But now, shopping like that is almost crazy. After all, if you play your cards right, there are a lot of ways you can make the most of your shopping dollars.

Red Envelope, the luxury gift catalog, is offering $50 off orders of $150 or more. This is the place to go if you can't figure out what to get your picky wife or husband.

Red Envelope specializes in unusual, high-end gift items, from stacking birthstone rings to a wooden catch-all valet case that comes with a charging station for his iPod or Blackberry.

Other interesting items include a mother-of-pearl and silver mother-daughter pendant necklace (on sale for $48), a battery-operated golf range finder that takes the guesswork out of club selection (on special for $25), and an Italian herb garden with three glazed ceramic pots (on sale for $24). It also has gift for babies, kids and pets.

Sit down and get tapping. The discount is only good until 11:59 pm, Thursday, Dec. 13. Enter the code SAVEBIG during checkout.

Crunch time for holiday shopping is upon us (especially you Hanukkah shoppers!) and you may be torn between attacking the mall or buy on-line. For your consideration, here are some criteria to weigh in making your decision:

Costs of shopping locally:

Time - Often overlooked is the opportunity cost of shopping. Perhaps there's a reason you finish the holiday season exhausted, ready for the social gulag of January! To put a monetary value on your time, you might consider the cost of buying cookies instead of making them, hiring a babysitter, the cost of the drying-out clinic you have to send the old man to because you weren't home to cut him off in time.

Travel - The IRS allows $0.485 per mile, so using this as a starting point, it doesn't take many trips to the mall to offset any sales savings.

Meals - You know that you're going to have to eat at some point during the day, and the Cheesecake Factory is so convenient.

Medications - Not everyone has to increase their blood pressure medication in prep for shopping, but how about the Advil for your aching feet?

Price - Generally, a brick and mortar business has higher overhead, and therefore has to charge more than an internet business.

Price comparison - Unless you have the patience of a saint and the feet of a marine, comparison shopping is a chore few will pursue.