You’re in a wheelchair, and the doctor says it’ll be a month before you’re out. OR you’re in the middle of a family crisis involving your kids, the bathroom and a pound or so of toilet paper. OR you’re waiting for that special guy to call, and you can NOT leave your house because he MIGHT be coming over. There are all kinds of reasons not to be able to shop at your favorite mall. Does that mean shopping, the one real pleasure of your life, is over for you? Not if you have a home computer. If you do, the mall is right in front of you, online.
And there’s a great deal more to shopping on the Internet than there is to mall shopping, because purchasing on the web usually involves a great deal of information that is passed on to you, expert advice that you don’t normally get at the GAP downtown. Consider this: any online website will refer you, via their web links, to resources, a dozen different websites where you can get additional purchases, accessories, consumer reports, viewer ratings, critiques and reviews, price over hauls (sure, sales don’t go away just because you’re online), and any number of other exciting features.
Take an example-digital SLR cameras. You don’t know the first thing about them, although you’ve heard enough about them to get one as a gift for mom, dad, your brother, your boyfriend, yourself. You’re a smart shopper, so you want to review the product. You head straight for Google and type in “Digital SLR review” and a dozen websites, at the very least, pop up for your first viewing.
You pick just one, something called Best Digital Reviews. You find yourself on a website with vivid pictures, explanations of the product, customer reviews and consumer reports about the absolute best features on the best cameras. You get a complete rundown of every camera within your conceivable price range, a great visual of what it is and does (just in case you’re a visual learner), and a rather weighty listing of resources to consult, to achieve the best kind of “instant expertise” in purchasing this camera.