Internet Shopping Sprees – Exactly What the Internet Wanted for Christmas

Merry Christmas, Internet shopping. To reward you for another year of continued growth, Santa has decided to get you a massive Internet shopping spree that shattered many of the shopping records from last year.

Yes, it’s true. The Internet is officially the place to be when it comes to convenient holiday shopping. Amazon.com, for example, set a single day Internet sales record when they reported that over 2.8 million different items had been ordered off their websites in a single day. Amazing, even for a company as large as Amazon has become.

Essentially, there are three reasons that more and more people are spending their time shopping online. First, it’s convenient, second, the selection available to Internet shoppers is growing every day, and finally, advertising companies are putting more stock into companies like Google, who are only to happy to match up products and services to potential customers...for a price.

By a show of hands, how many out there honestly would rather sit on their computer at home in their comfortable chair than risk fighting the tidal wave of stressed-out holiday shoppers?

Uh huh. That’s just about all of you. Good call. That’s one of the secrets to great online shopping and the reason it’s been so successful. With courier companies being what they are and seeing the incredible opportunity available providing door-to-door service to customers and businesses, more and more people are hanging up their boots and mittens for a computer mouse and a large cup of home-brewed coffee.

The first thing that has been driving Internet sales (some companies are posting growth numbers of over 100 per cent over last years numbers) is that as the amount of people willing to go for convenient online shopping has grown, so have the amount of companies looking to fill gaps in their marketing and service rosters.

This has lead to a sharp increase in both the number of companies selling you things you need or want, but also the spike in types of things available to shoppers online. It’s like the Internet has turned into a gigantic shopping superstore, and everyday new things are being added for your shopping convenience.

Why spend the day travelling to a bunch of different stores who may or may not have the items you want in stock when you could just as easily hop on your computer, type in a few keywords, and find a bunch of stores selling your item all at once? Then not only would you find the item in question, but you’d also be able to do some serious comparison shopping and get the absolute best deal for your dollar.

Companies like Google.com – one of the most successful rags-to-riches stories in the history of the Internet, are attracting hordes of holiday shoppers, and playing matchmaker with so much skill that even Cupid himself should be worried about his job security.

All in all, American consumers spent $23.2 billion over the holiday shopping season in 2005, an incredible amount of money by anyone’s standards.

The biggest holiday shopping winners? Clothing was first ($3.8 Billion), Toys and Games (no surprise, $2.5 Billion), and Consumer Electronics ($2.3 Billion). Although jewellery only did $1.9 billion worth of Business, it had an amazing growth year over last year’s Christmas shopping season with a 113 per cent increase over 2003.

If things keep up like this in the New Year, and many experts believe that it will, it may be time for the Internet business world to invest in a second stocking to hang over the mantle. After all, there’s no telling what Christmas 2005 could bring.

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Bill Schnarr is a single parent and freelance writer who works from his home in Calgary, Alberta. As well as having dozens of online and print publishing credits, you can also look for him in the upcoming "Chicken Soup for the Single Parents Soul" due out in February 2005.