by Elaine Richardson
Perhaps the great urban myth of the Internet age is that you can buy anything online.
Sure, if you can find it.
There's certainly stuff to buy, and that selection is amazing. Got $1,000 to spare? Check out your "trained, user-friendly companion llama" (from www.ywl.com) on their live llama cam and then get it shipped to your door—or at least to the nearest airport. Need some new duds but don't have time for the fitting room? Input your measurements and a three-dimensional you—the trademarked Your Personal Model from www.landsend.com—will try on whatever you might like, rotate 360 degrees to give you the full view and even suggest the best clothes for your body type.
As we head full force toward the shopping spree of the millennium, those in the know are predicting that this holiday season will be a high-stakes cash bonanza for e-commerce. Forrester Research says that seventeen million U.S. households will be shopping online by the end of the year, pushing retail sales to more than $20.2 billion. Another handy Internet analysis group, NPD Research, predicts that 13 percent of all holiday sales in the apparel industry, around $600 million, will come from the Internet.
And why not? Anyone with online service in their office, especially those with fast connections, can pop onto a site at any time during the day, buy a few things and pop off again without their boss being any the wiser—what's better than shopping at work? The Internet is easy to use, packed with products and, for those who have access, can save significant amounts of time. It can also be frustrating as hell.
But the big question is just how convenient online shopping is. Can it really keep you from the horror of in-person holiday shopping? Unless you're buying books, CDs, DVDs, videos, housewares, coffee or porn, the short answer is probably not. And unlike previous years, when concerns about safe purchasing ruled consumer fears, this year the problem could be more about speed.
A report released November 1 by the independent research firm Consumer Economics notes that slow download times may discourage people from shopping online. New and "improved" features such as 3-D models, chat rooms and live customer service are great—but not when your modem is still connecting at 33.6. The study found that 3-D models were "painfully slow to download," and that chat rooms "quickly became clogged and did not work in tandem with surfing."
And these problems are, for the most part, not correctable before the shopping glut. "New features will be added quickly in the next few week, but the bugs will not have been smoothed out before crowds of customers come to the sites," says Catherine Huneke, senior research analyst for Computer Economics.
But anyone used to catalog shopping should be able to deal with the Net, right? Apparently not. A Consumer Reports survey from late October found that the "convenience" of the Web doesn't cause customers of the big mail order outlets—L.L. Bean, Victoria's Secret and the like—to give up mail-order shopping. Seems the shopping experience on the Web, which is peppered with poorly organized and confusing retail sites, isn't nearly as convenient as using an easy-to-follow catalog.
Of course, the true determiner of just how successful your Internet shopping experience is the U.S. Postal Service. Sure, braving the mall sucks, but at least when you walk away there's something in your hand. On the Web there's always the possibility—especially after December 1—that the five-day mailing period can become two weeks, jacking up costs by forcing use of the pricey overnight or second-day delivery services.
And beyond the more technical aspects, there's that nebulous question of just what you're going to buy. Unless you have a precise idea of what you are looking for, you're not going to find it online. There is no window shopping on the Internet. You can certainly try, but surfing the zillion Net malls on your super-slow computer is likely to frustrate you long before you can locate something that might please the in-laws.
So maybe you'll just have to go out and shop this year—but that doesn't mean you can't go to the Web first. Using the Internet as a guide rather than your only source is probably the best way to stay sane this season. The pervasiveness of large retailers and small local shops with their own sites make it a good place to start—and an even better place to return if your store of choice is out of what you want.
The people at 900 North Michigan shops have put together a site especially designed to help the hybrid shopper. You can't actually buy anything, but at www.shop900.com you can browse available stores and their merchandise. Click on something you like and it will immediately be added to your shopping list—complete with item name, store name, store phone and location of the store within the complex. Just print the list and take it along.
Because a visit to the festive confines of Marshall Field's is a holiday standard for shoppers, Field's Website, www.marshallfields.com, doesn't carry many of the items you'll find in the store. But what it does have are gifts convenient to ship, and some items frequently hard to find in stock at your local store—china, collectibles, jewelry and other knickknacks. Other local tease sites include the Museum of Contemporary Art, www.mcachicago.org, and the Art Institute, www.artic.com. MCA posts a few of the items from its store counterculture, while the Art Institute, which now has its Museum Shop in malls far and wide, shows a couple of items and has downloadable lists of sides and posters—but no shopping power.
Perhaps buying something online from a localized store will cut down on shipping time and give you more piece of mind—they usually have numbers you can call in order to speak with non-digital people. The city, it seems, isn't beyond selling taxpayer-purchased stuffs back to them at inflated prices. The official site, www.chicagostore.com, has a host of fun categories. Second Hand Chicago offers old parking meters for $250, old Stop signs for $34.95 and even old No Parking signage for around $30. They also have a host of inexplicable Chicago items, ceramic bowls, millennial shirts and an $88 hand-painted Windy City scarf—but there aren't any pictures, so you're buying unseen merchandise.
The CTA, www.yourcta.com, also plays the sell-back game with gold-plated accents like key chains, money clips, tie tacks and cufflinks—all made with old tokens. And if you really, really like the CTA, or can't seem to remember how the trains run, they've got everything from journals and thermal mugs to silk scarves and mousepads, all ilustrating the all-too-familiar system map. You can also surprise your loved one with a Transit Card and a leather Transit Card holder ($10-$12), just to show how much you care.
Buying gift baskets and don't have time to mess around with going somewhere to pick something out? Mark Bires Catering, www.markbires.com, has an assortment of gift baskets at a nice variety of prices that can be made on forty-eight hours notice. (That's the standard time, but as the holidays drag on, it might be wise to call and make sure.) And, thankfully, Mark Bires and company have put up big, detailed photos of what several of the baskets look like, so you're not shopping blind.
And last, but not least, if you need a quirky gift, the best local site you've probably never seen belongs to Stoner Connection, www.stonerconnection.com. Yeah, that's what it sounds like, but actually it's the largest purveyor of police paraphernalia around—an actual law enforcement supplier that will sell stuff to you as well. (Though the official Cook County State's Attorney badges are restricted only to current, verifiable personnel from that office.) If you've always wanted sweats, shirts, steins or any kind of dishware with the Chicago Police Department logo, a hat that says CPD or FBI in huge letters or a leather handcuff holder, this is your place. And for anyone still obsessed by "Backdraft," there's Fire Department merchandise too.
Most fun for shoppers is the T-shirt collection, featuring, again, the CPS logo with some statements that should make you question the cop sense of humor. Among the more interesting ones: "May the FORCE be with you," "CPD: biggest, baddest gang in town" and "Police brutality, the fun part of law enforcement." For a break in the shopping monotony, be sure to check out the full gallery of police apparel.
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.