What's the story with online Christmas gifts? There are still 42 shopping days until Christmas, and already the sounds of sleigh bells ringing and holy children singing are getting louder in department stores and supermarkets. While retailers will be growing more frenzied, streets more packed and consumers more panicked in coming weeks, canny shoppers are surfing the web, saving themselves all the heartache - and plenty of money, too.
Recently researchers from British consumer group Which? filled a Christmas shopping basket with eight electrical items including TVs and MP3 players, and found by shopping online they could save more than £1,000 (€1,500).
Last week PriceWatch went Christmas shopping online and using just one British-based website made savings of more than €75 on four items which look set to fill many Christmas stockings this year. Amazon.co.uk, which ships at a comparatively low cost to the Republic, expects this Christmas to be its busiest.
Last week it unveiled its predictions for the 10 best-selling Christmas gifts. Included on it were Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, iPods, Ta-Dah by the Scissor Sisters and, worryingly, Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition.
In the middle of last week, PriceWatch put seven of Amazon's predicted top 10 best-sellers in a virtual basket and proceeded to the check-out. The total cost minus VAT and delivery was £348.44 (€519.17). The same seven items, priced in Dublin city centre last week cost €657.44.
Unfortunately, Amazon.co.uk no longer delivers electronic goods to the Republic, so we had to lose the iPod and the board games which have electronic components. The remaining four items cost £125.75 (€187.67) including delivery and VAT. In Dublin however the same four items cost €263.96 - €76.29 more than the online cost.
While Amazon.co.uk is unable to deliver the electronic items because of difficulties the site says it has encountered with the WEE recycling system in place here, it is still worth comparing some prices.
The 30-gigabyte iPod with video playback on sale in Dublin stores for €329.50 costs €267.98 on the site. The boardgames are more evenly priced, with Deal Or No Deal costing €28.32 online and €28.99 in stores, while the Dr Who game costs significantly less in one Dublin store than it does on Amazon.
The Which? study found the largest online savings for MP3 players, which worked out at 22 per cent cheaper than in stores. Other good internet buys included photo printers and digital cameras. A 4GB Apple iPod Nano worked out at £49 (€73) cheaper at one website than at the cheapest store, while one researcher managed to save £184 (€274) by buying a Sony Cybershot DSC-R1 camera online.
"Shopping online, with no queues, no crowds and unlimited opening hours, is a gift for those of us who dread the thought of fighting for Christmas presents on the high street," according to editor of which.co.uk, Malcolm Coles. "It's often cheaper, too, especially for MP3 players and digital cameras, which are both bound to be popular gifts this Christmas."
In Britain, online spending is expected to top £7 billion (€10.4 billion) this Christmas, 40 per cent more than last year, and in the US retailers are gearing up for sharply higher online holiday sales this year, with online holiday shopping expected to climb by 75 per cent. Wal-Mart has launched a new site to lure more kids - and parents - to its toy offerings.
When it comes to establishing online retail trends in Ireland the normally reliable Central Statistics Office (CSO) seems to be somewhat behind the curve. According to its most recent figures, dating from 2003, online sales accounted for close to €10 million. When we asked for more up-to-date figures we were told that data for 2004 was "delayed" and nothing new is expected for at least four months.
While the choice of retailers offering bargains online here is certainly smaller, there are still savings to be made - and not just when it comes to electronic goods.
Books, toys, CDs and DVDs - the staples of any Christmas - can be found at competitive prices online as long as you do your shopping early. While it is difficult to give a deadline, if you want your gifts to arrive on time, the best advice is to shop early and have everything done by the end of this month.
One popular site offering a range of electronic items is www.komplett.ie, while www.cdwow.ie has long undercut traditional retailers when it comes to CDs. In addition to the savings that can be made and the convenience of shopping from your home (or your office), buying online means the websites can send directly to far-flung relatives and friends, saving you the bother of a trip to the post office.
Buy4Now.ie, one of the leading online retailers in Ireland, has released figures which show that revenues grew 26 per cent year on year to €3.15 million.
The website, which has 150,000 registered members, is home to retail brands such as Superquinn, Arnotts, Budget Travel, 3G Stores and Atlantic Homecare. It is predicting annual sales of €20 million through its portal.
The site has a "gift generator" for the imagination-deficient. After you choose four criteria - gender, age, price range and occasion - a range of presents available from the site is suggested. PriceWatch, with €150 to spend on a gift for a woman aged 25-35, was offered gift ideas including some dull-looking mobile phones, a chrome bar stool and a rocket-shaped radio. And a chrome bar stool and rocket-shaped radio is exactly what any right-thinking woman would want for Christmas. Isn't it?
