Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? If you don’t do it right, online Christmas shopping can be a stressful and costly exercise! With the right planning, however, it can be a time- and money-saving blessing. For stress-free festive season shopping, read through the tips below.

1. Know your budget

Avoid January credit card bill shock by setting an overall budget for your Christmas shopping and think about how much you want to spend on each person you want to buy for.

2. Make a list

Once you have your budget sorted, start jotting down ideas to help you narrow down the right Christmas gift ideas for each person. What are their favourite things? What do they enjoy doing? Remember, you may think that socks and undies are ‘practical’, but if you want to show you care then put a bit more thought into what sort of personalised gift might create that genuine “Wow!” reaction on Christmas Day.

3. Start early

Not only does this help avoid bad last-minute desperate decisions, you can often pick up a bargain in late November or early December as retailers conduct sales to kick off the festive season buying frenzy. You will also have more to choose from if you start early, as online retailers can sell out of many items as Christmas Day gets closer. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding the perfect Christmas gift idea for that special someone and then seeing the words “Sold Out”.

4. Shop smart

When ordering anything online, check product reviews on retailer websites or via Google. Watch out for fake or imitation products. You generally get what you pay for and if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Also remember to include shipping costs when comparing prices. Many retailers offer free shipping, but inflate product prices to offset shipping costs. Make sure you’re comparing Apples with Apples!

5. Shop safe

Don’t buy from a site that doesn’t have a secure server to encrypt your payment details. Look for the padlock icon in the address bar of your browser and the additional “s” (which stands for secure) at the end of the traditional ‘http’ in the address bar. ‘https‘ tells you that security is in place and gives additional peace of mind. Avoid buying from sites that don’t have any contact details or only list a PO Box. You can also consider using PayPal if you are not comfortable entering your credit card details on a particular website.

6. Customer service

This is one of the less obvious aspects of online retail but also one of the biggest sources of frustration for online shoppers. Look for websites that have an obvious focus on customer service, both before the sale AND after. In terms of pre-sales service, features like ‘click-to-chat’ are being offered by some retailers in an attempt to bring the online shopping experience closer to what would occur in a traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retail store. When it comes to after sales service, check for testimonials from previous customers and consider searching online forums to look for a pattern of negative experiences. You want to know that if you have any issues with the product, you will be looked after rather than given the cold shoulder.

7. Delivery options

Check to see what delivery options are available, whether they meet your requirements and what the cost impact of each option is. If the delivery is via courier, will you be home when the courier arrives? Can you provide the courier with ‘Authority to leave’ the package if you are not home when they arrive? What tracking options are available?

8. Returns

Although we all hope that we choose the right Christmas gift idea for each person, it doesn’t always turn out that way, so consider the returns policy of the website before buying. How flexible will they be and what are the conditions associated with the return of any items? Is there a refund or exchange policy?

9. Gift vouchers

Although some may consider gift vouchers as the lazy, less thoughtful option, others prefer them because the recipient gets to pick something they really want rather than something you think they wanted. Gift vouchers also allow the recipient to take advantage of post-Christmas sale prices. If you’re still concerned that a voucher is boring, consider a voucher from a more specialist online retailer like us! This shows you have put some thought into it rather than just picking up a generic voucher from the local Westfield shopping centre.

10. Have fun!

Enjoy the convenience of having immediate and anytime access to so many great retailers online. Gone are the days of car park rage and bustling crowds at the local shopping centre. If you plan ahead (as per tips 1, 2 and 3 above), you can pick up some great Christmas gift ideas at great prices, stress free! Finally, enjoy the moment on Christmas Day when your family and friends open their gifts and appreciate the effort and thought you put into choosing something special and personal for them.

Oh, and if you’re still stuck for Christmas gift ideas and want give something really unique, check out our online store!

What other tips do you have for online Christmas shopping?

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