What Technologies Did You Find Useful for Holiday Shopping?
I did much of my holiday shopping in local stores and/or with local craftspeople. But I also did a fair amount online. It's just the easiest way to locate just about anything that anyone wants.
What I didn't do this year was use my mobile phone for either browsing or shopping.
Yet, according to the statistics released by IBM and some others, quite a few people did use their mobile phones for browsing, getting places, comparison shopping, price checking, and for some buying. But our phones are not yet acting as our wallets.
6 comments
You must be a member to comment. Sign in or create a free account.
Although I do most of my shopping online (as I did for the holidays), I found myself at the mall yesterday walking through the Golf Town store (I found a parking place near that entrance--I'm not a golfer). And I did see a woman looking at some golf accessories and then taking a picture of items with her cell phone and obviously sending them to someone. She then waited for a response, and moved on to another item, taking and sending its picture. Obviously she was getting advice or approval from someone on the merchandise.
So smart phones are also used not just as a method of shopping, but as a method of shopping together.
Currently being a sales associate at Home Depot, I wonder how people ever shopped without their phones. It is a common occurance to see people discussing purchases with someone on the phone, sometimes when they are at two different stores. I have seen people take pictures, use the QR codes, or arrange pick up for merchandise. I don't think a day goes by that I don't see at least one person using their phone to help them make a purchase.
HD also has computers set up in the stores and we often use them to help people locate things we may not have in the store, or find details on a certain product. And if they want, they can purchase them on line then and there!
Technology certainly has made shopping convenient!
I must confess that for the second year in a row, I did most of my Christmas shopping on Amazon. However, I did make my very first mobile purchase this past holiday! I bought a gorgeous black leather Timberland watch for my husband that I would never have known about if it hadn't been for a promotional email I received several weeks before Christmas. Clicking through from the email to the mobile store was both exciting and a little scary, mainly because I have had my credit card number stolen. It was really easy and my purchase was complete in a matter of minutes.
I shop with my phone all the time, and I send pictures of things to my trusted panel of advisors: my husband, my best friend and my Sister-in-Law, all of whom are great at talking me out of making bad decisions on either clothing or home decor. :)