Lots of people were out shopping on Black Friday but I was not one of them. I have not gone out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving years. I know I could have gotten a great deal on a flat panel TV or an X-Box. I could have won a door prize or been handed a discount booklet filled with coupons for even bigger savings. But I chose to join the legion of other shoppers who opted to stay home and click from site to site.
This Christmas season, online sales are expected to hit $27 billion, a 23 percent increase over last year. And why not? It’s fast, convenient and it’s easy to compare prices in real time. Add to that being about to shop from anywhere, and you have my list of reasons why buying online works for me.
I flipped my laptop open soon after I woke up to check on a couple of trend-right items I had already settled on for members of The Trend Curve™ team. I won’t say what they are because my staff reads my blog. But I will say I THINK YOU WILL LOVE YOUR CHIRSTMAS PRESENTS, JANICE AND LINDA! I bought them and within a few hours, I got my shipping confirmation via email. If I want to, I can track the progress of the shipment to ensure timely delivery. No hassle, no stress.
Every time I shop online (and I do it often), I think about the scores of companies, many of them in the furniture business, who will not permit their products to be sold on the web. How short sighted! This is not only because more and more people are buying online all the time, it is also because many young adults—those who grew up using computers for everything from school work to music downloads—want that convenience for everything else in their lives. That includes selecting and purchasing home décor items.
I won’t rant too long about this, but I will end with this thought: those who adapt to market conditions are those who survive. Buying online is not really a new paradigm any more, it is one that is well established. No matter the reason, holding out makes any company look out-of-touch with the times.