I hate Christmas shopping. Every year, the gift-buying battle turns “Ho, ho, ho,” into “Ow, ow, ow” as shoppers struggle for the best bargains. This year the maul, er … mall, shopping season started at the mind-numbing hour of 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving.

I know, I sound like a Scrooge for the new millennium. But it’s not the gift giving I dislike or even the shopping. It’s the madness. Wall-to-wall customers. Long lines. Customers dragging bags like Marley lugged his chains through the afterlife.

Thanks to technology, there’s another way: shopping online.

For bricks-and-mortar stores, Black Friday is the big day. For online operations, it’s Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s the day the most people shop online — though according to The New York Times, it only ranks ninth for sales.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Either way you want to shop, you have your choice. This time of year, I’d rather click ‘til I’m sick than shop ‘til I drop.

I’m not alone. Jupiter Research predicts 115 million people will shop online this holiday season — 6 percent more than last year. That doesn’t seem like much of an increase until you realize online holiday sales will hit $32 billion this year.

In other words, we’re spending $5 billion more online this holiday season. Overall, online spending is up to the astounding figure of $211 billion this year.

That not just shopping in the virtual world at firms with no storefronts. Look at some of the big names online — Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Home Depot. They’re all stores you can visit in the real world as well.

That’s part of the attraction. Smart companies combine bricks and clicks so customers get the convenience of ordering online and comfort of having a nearby location if there’s a problem. Circuit City and the Gap have both gone that route, luring customers to the Web with special bargains.

Those specials have become so commonplace that whole Web sites have cropped up just devoted to deals at other shopping sites. Operations like CyberMonday.com and FatWallet.com want to make your bargain-hunting as easy as possible and make a profit while doing so.

I’ve shopped online more and more, and even one of the few downsides is fading from view. Most companies now include free delivery as part of the purchase. And if you are trying to get a gift delivered in time for the holiday, the best sites guarantee that as well.

I don’t recommend waiting ‘til the night before Christmas, but why not make sure there’s one creature stirring in your house this holiday — your mouse.

Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow at the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at gainorcolumn@gmail.com.