French cheeses, German sausages, Irish crystal, English fabrics and a huge variety of European specialist and regional products are just a click away for American consumers looking to buy something a little different. This feature looks at the growth in European shopping portals and concludes that they have improved dramatically in terms of presentation, technology and back-up services. I hate shopping. No two ways about it - department stores on a Saturday afternoon are my vision of Hades, full of harassed and tortured souls elbowing each other to death in search of a bargain. My shopping expeditions are thus extremely rare events, planned and executed with military efficiency to keep the stress factor to a minimum.
Salvation seems to have come in the shape of the Internet.
No more tramping around dreary malls, no more sardine-impersonating on crowded escalators, no more blistered feet and lumbago from lugging around bags of shopping, and thankfully no more hiding from unctuous sales assistants intent on selling overpriced junk. My alternative shopping is a few pleasurable hours online, window-shopping from Milan to Paris to London for the price of a local call. And yet I must admit that I only made my first online purchase in the past few months. Several times I have been tempted to make purchases online and backed down from the sheer terror of sending my credit card details over the Internet. The horror stories of crackers running amok with Visa cards made me cautious to the point of paranoia.