Virtual Store vs. Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Even if you're not comfortable with providing your credit card or bank information online, you can still use the internet to make your shopping more efficient. Instead of running all over town fighting crowds, traffic, and wasting gas you can instead use the internet to your advantage. Most major stores now maintain websites with full inventory of their available stock. Do your research about whatever it is you need, find the store with the best price, read the item specifications and reviews to make sure it's what you want, and check the available inventory before you venture to the store. Sometimes, depending on the product, it really is a much better deal to purchase something through a local store rather than pay for shipping to your house. Some stores even offer in store pick-up - Bestbuy.com, Walmart.com, Circuitcity.com, Linensnthings.com, just to name a few. You can go online, pick out what you need, provide billing information and the items will be ready to pick up at the front of the store within 24 hours! I've found this to be extremely helpful when I've forgotten a birthday until the last minute and I don't have time to run around the store trying to find that one item. I just let the store employees pull it off the shelves for me! This is also a good tactic if you are trying to save money by avoiding impulse buying. By not running through the store, you won't come across something you think you need at that moment but ultimately you really don't. So next time you need to pick something up real fast, do the legwork online and buy it offline!