online christmas shopping and the fable of the christmas spider
Online Christmas Shopping and the fable of the Christmas Spider
Online shopping malls from around America are now getting ready for what is being forecasted as one of the largest ever online Christmas shopping seasons of all time. Yes, whereas before the majority of people did their Christmas shopping in traditional brick and mortar shopping centers, it would seem that more and more people are now choosing to shop online from the comfort of their own homes, rather than join the annual highstreet heart-stopping shopping forage where it would appear, that all people had returned to their neanderthal beginnings.
Yes, analysts are predicting a staggering increase of at least 14. 8% compared to a minimal increase of just 2.7% at traditional brick and mortar shopping centers. Who can blame online shopping malls like Amazon, BargainBrute, or Shopify, to name three, for ensuring that all their shelves are packed to the rafters with Christmas bargains and deals galore as they all want part of that predicted spend of over $124 billion online Christmas shoppers are being expected to spend, this coming “Christmas Season.”
For all online retailers, as with brick and mortar retailers, the Christmas period between November and December is critical. Bottom line, it can be a period of success or complete failure, so no reputable retailer, even if they had a great season last year, rest on their laurels. I have seen the devastating results that thought that their good-name would see them through the Christmas season with my own eyes. At the same time, I was the portfolio manager of various shopping centers in the United Kingdom. My advice to all retailers is to “promote, promote, promote and always remember your clients can always go somewhere else. Furthermore, remember this, even if you have been in the business for many years once you have sullied your name, then its book closed”.
So when are the best days to shop online this Christmas Shopping Season to find those best shopping deals?
As usual, Thanksgiving will always be a good day to buy sporting goods as they are generally at least 10% lower than the proceeding months leading into November. Furthermore, let’s not forget Black Friday as prices for televisions and electronics are all forecasted by many analysts to be lower than the previous ten months, in some cases as low as minus 20%.
Cyber Monday, some analysts predict that toys and apparel may be reduced by almost 19%, so if you have a few young children, this would be a beautiful day to pick up some of their stocking fillers.
The Christmas Spider
Christmas would not be Christmas without a good old fashion family yuletide story, so let’s take a quick break from our online Christmas shopping, and visit the dark woods of a Ukrainian forest many years ago and find out why people drape silver tinsel around the family tree.
I remember as a small lad. A kindly old teacher called Mr. Tibbles, who every Friday if we had been well behaved, would tell us a story from a well-thumbed book he always seemed to have tucked away in the breast pocket of his old tweed jacket. Please remember, when I was at school, it was in the early 1950s, and at that time, the United Kingdom was still suffering the drudgery of wartime rationing, and money was scarce. His story has stuck with me throughout my life, and if I close my eyes, I can still see him with his pipe in one hand, book in the other beckoning us to come forward to sit cross-legged around the large wooden table he used as a desk.
The story of the Christmas Spider was told by a kindly teacher back in the 1950s.
One day, in one of the dark forests of Ukraine, a poor but hard-working widow took her children out into the woods, searching for firewood and anything they could take home to eat. It was hot and thirsty work as it was mid-summer, so at lunchtime, they all sat under a tree and drank the goat’s milk the old lady had drawn from the family’s only animal, an old hornless goat, the children called “Bunter.”
They gathered wood and plants throughout the afternoon to take back to the humble hut they called home. Back at their tiny house, the wood was carefully stacked in the corner of the earthen floor of their foresters shelter. Once finished, the old lady ushered the children into their single bed and bade them goodnight. However, none of them had noticed that a single pine cone had dropped unnoticed onto the earthen floor, just below the only window in the hut.
After the children were safely tucked up in bed, the old lady sat in her solitary chair next to the fireplace, where she watched a large pot of simmering greens they had harvested from the forest earlier. This broth would be what both she and the children would eat the following morning for breakfast.
The following morning two excited children woke the old lady and pointed to the miniature pine cone which had fallen to the floor. It had taken root and had started to grow towards the sunlight, poking through the old thatched roof of the hut. “Water that cone,” the old lady said. It will grow and grow until it reaches the ceiling, and then once Christmas arrives, we will have the most beautiful Christmas tree in the land.
Time passed, and the children did as their mother had said and watched as the tiny cone grew and reached the dusty rafters of their home. They were all pleased, but when Christmas eve came, the old lady, when alone, became sad. She had no presents to give to her children and even the tree they had watered and cared for since the summer looked barren. The old lady fell into a lonely sleep and dreamt of happier times when her husband was still alive, and Christmases seemed bright and full of happiness.
Then, very early on Christmas morning, a miracle occurred. The old lady was awakened by her two small children, who were dancing around the tree they had nurtured for so long. It shone like a beacon with silver and gold trim which had been placed on it by a friendly little spider who had spent the night weaving his silk throughout the tree, silk, which when the rays of the golden sun filtered through the huts only window turned the tree into a sparkling land of hope and brilliance, never again would the old lady and her children think they were living in poverty. They had the most beautiful Christmas tree in the land.
Why did our kindly teacher pick this tale to read to us on that Friday before Christmas? Let us know that Christmas time can be both lonely and sometimes quite horrid for some. So please, while shopping at your favorite online shopping mall this Christmas, spare a thought for those who are less fortunate and think of donating at your local homeless shelter, either by sending them non-perishable foods, presents, or, if you have time, give a spare hour of your time.
Well, folks, I have come to the end of another short narrative, I thank you all for indulging me, and I would be remiss if I did not thank BargainBrute.Com voted America’s favorite place to shop online in 2019 for giving me the platform to write. Give BargainBrute.Com a visit, and join them and find out for yourselves just why they have been voted America’s favorite place to shop online. Believe me, if you are looking for Christmas shopping bargains, BargainBrute is where you will find them.
