Online Friday is the New Black friday

If it weren't for soccer I would have never discovered that Online Friday is the New Black Friday. For the past few years, my daughter has been invited to join and play in the Turkey tournament for her soccer league which conveniently takes place on Black Friday and the rest of the weekend. I admit the first year I was annoyed about missing black Friday great deals. It wasn't until halftime and my boredom took over with me pulling out my phone and checking the store hours at a particular retailer, that I discovered that one of my favorite stores had the exact same deals online as they did in-store without the hassle of traffic, lines, and rude people. The icing on the cake of free shipping and a better variety of sizes for clothes. 

Although That year I did the rest of my Holiday shopping in the stores, the following year I decided to see just how much I could get away with by doing my Black Friday shopping online with other retailers. My daughter once again was invited to play in the turkey tournament and this time I was prepared. The possibilities were endless. There are even coupon sites like clothingric.com that you can get additional discounts and Black Friday deals. In fact, I rarely made a store appearance that holiday season. Many retailers such as Target will let you know what day you can order your items that will get to your doorstep or like my situation, on my eleven-year-old niece's doorstep in Bakersfield before the Holiday. Most of my family live in other cities and states and the fact that I will not have to ship gifts myself is another breath of fresh air with online shopping. Most retailers offer options for your items being shipped as gifts so that your purchase can go straight to the intended party. 


Did I mention Cyber Monday? It's like having two black Fridays. I know many of us are skeptical about shopping online, I still personally have issues with purchasing clothing online for myself all the time! Would if it's not my size? Would if the material is different? Does it stretch? Does it have pockets? So many questions that cannot be answered when you buy online. All this may be true but there are so many retailers out there that have amazing return policies, some shops will allow you to return to the store in case you don't want to deal with the hassle of returning online. Most online retailers have size charts so you can make your decisions based on if a particular clothing item runs big or small if you are unfamiliar or they don't have a physical store.

One of the greatest things about the internet is that people tend to voice their opinions and experiences whether its good or bad. Online reviews definitely sway my decision making for online shopping. If the good outweighs the bad reviews, I will personally lean toward purchasing the item. But, if the bad outweighs the good reviews I more than likely steer clear. Sites like Amazon will allow customers to post pictures of the item you would like to purchase to assist with your decision making.

At some point in December, we have all said out loud or thought “I can't wait for the holidays to be over!”. For me, I say it in regards to the crowds and the traffic. Since utilizing online shopping, I have more joy and peace during the holidays. Don't get me wrong, I love the ambiance of the holidays. At times I love being out and about and want to physically do some shopping. Well, We can have both!  Let's face it, as the holiday gets closer we are completely over the headache of shopping. I know so many people who are not open to the idea of shopping online but, We live in a digital age and online Black Friday shopping is just going to get more popular. Online shopping may be a bit frightening and even intimidating at times, but the option to minimize the frustration of finding parking at the mall, waiting in long lines, crowds, sitting in traffic and the headache of that store not having a size 8 long Levi jeans is something we can all live without.

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