From Black Friday to Cyber Monday

For Americans retailers, with the weak economy and slugging sales, they’ve successfully devised a way to pry open those tightly held purses and wallets.

Sales. Make them big and make them early.

That did the trick.

Look what happened on Black Friday.

With online shopping growing in popularity, reports of a “Cyber Monday” is floating around. It’s the internet’s version of having their own little sales day for shoppers who didn’t want to confront the 2,500 or so shoppers lined up outside stores on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). This year’s Cyber Monday sales are expected to jump 3 times than that of last year’s online sales to an astonishing US$700million, according to comScore.

In Montreal, you can already check out that stores are jumping into the early holiday sales with Holt Renfrew marking down their designer goods at 40%-50% off, and Browns shoe store is marking theirs off at least at 30% off.

Online shoe retailer Zappos.com is an excellent alternative in finding stylish less expensive shoes, fast delivery and return policy. I can’t recommend this site enough! Shoppers who have already bought from Zappos can review the shoes they bought based on fit, comfort and size and can base recommendations like Amazon.com. You can find a large range of brand names like Guess, Lacoste and even the likes of Marc Jacobs, DSquared and Guiseppe Zanotti. For Canadian shoppers, you’ll have to go to Zappos.ca, but will hold less of a choice selection, though it is ever expanding.

Here are a couple more of online shopping suggestions:

Etsy – Handcrafted items such as scarves, purses, trinkets, dolls, sweaters, pots, and more. Attractive, friendly, easy to use.

Tigerdirect.ca – Futureshop and Best Buy are grossly overpriced. My boyfriend always shops here for computer parts and other electronics.

Cafepresse – Get your designs or buy designs, printed on a bunch of paraphernalia like mugs, calendars, tshirts, clocks and whatnot, it’s a great way to personalize your gifts for an affordable price.

Non-online gift ideas

Futureshop – Though grossly overpriced for most electronics, for some reason they always have way cheaper DVDs. Why is that? You can find some really good combos for under $20.

MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) – For practical winter clothing, you have to go here. You know winter clothing isn’t as dorky and frumpy as you might think. Especially in our climate, there is little room for compromise with mother nature!

Gift Cards – Frankly, you can’t go wrong with gift cards.