Posted on 08/11/2004 4:17:24 PM PDT by solicitor77
CHICAGO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- It's August, and the new school year is about to start, but Linda Crandall, a mom in Baldwin, Mo., is vowing she will not shop for her kids at one of those frenzied, back-to-school sales at the local mall.
"This year, I will purchase school supplies online," Crandall told United Press International. "It's 10 times more flexible and it keeps the kids from seeing all the neat stuff in the aisle. They can't talk us into buying things that they already have due to a new, neat color or shape."
Crandall is far from alone. Research by eBay.com, the online auctioneer, indicates more than 50 percent of students and their families shop online. That appears to be dramatically up from last year.
According to Jupiter Research in New York City, an Internet trends tracker, about 10 percent of online shoppers searched the Internet last year for back-to-school savings.
"The Internet makes back-to-school shopping fast, easy and convenient for busy moms and dads," Sally Lee, editor-in-chief of Parents Magazine, told UPI. "It allows parents to skip the crazed mall scene, avoid long lines and prevent kiddie tantrums."
Not only are mass-market, online retailers such as eBay and Amazon partaking in the trend, but big brand, traditional retailers, like Target, Wal-Mart and The Gap also are active online, seeking to drive consumers to their e-commerce sites.
"Target, Wal-Mart and The Gap are willing to pay other Web sites to deliver shoppers to their sites," said Dan Sondhelm, a partner in SunStar in Alexandria, Va., a marketing consulting firm that works the with financial services industry.
Many of these Web sites work with other, affiliated sites to offer discounts to visitors for using their services. Some moms and dads, wise to the ways of the Web, are turning their own family Web sites into affiliates of the big brand names, and earning discounts on already-marked-down goods.
"Savvy consumers, with their own Web sites, can earn rebates for themselves for added savings," Sondhelm told UPI.
"This year, I will purchase school supplies online," Crandall told United Press International. "It's 10 times more flexible and it keeps the kids from seeing all the neat stuff in the aisle. They can't talk us into buying things that they already have due to a new, neat color or shape."
Crandall is far from alone. Research by eBay.com, the online auctioneer, indicates more than 50 percent of students and their families shop online. That appears to be dramatically up from last year.
According to Jupiter Research in New York City, an Internet trends tracker, about 10 percent of online shoppers searched the Internet last year for back-to-school savings.
"The Internet makes back-to-school shopping fast, easy and convenient for busy moms and dads," Sally Lee, editor-in-chief of Parents Magazine, told UPI. "It allows parents to skip the crazed mall scene, avoid long lines and prevent kiddie tantrums."
Not only are mass-market, online retailers such as eBay and Amazon partaking in the trend, but big brand, traditional retailers, like Target, Wal-Mart and The Gap also are active online, seeking to drive consumers to their e-commerce sites.
"Target, Wal-Mart and The Gap are willing to pay other Web sites to deliver shoppers to their sites," said Dan Sondhelm, a partner in SunStar in Alexandria, Va., a marketing consulting firm that works the with financial services industry.
Many of these Web sites work with other, affiliated sites to offer discounts to visitors for using their services. Some moms and dads, wise to the ways of the Web, are turning their own family Web sites into affiliates of the big brand names, and earning discounts on already-marked-down goods.
"Savvy consumers, with their own Web sites, can earn rebates for themselves for added savings," Sondhelm told UPI. "Just click on the affiliate link on all of your favorite merchants and follow the simple registration process to join the program. When you want to shop, click from your site to the merchant, and you will be credited with the commission."
For some customers with small families, it may take time to see the first commission check, however. "Many sites won't send you a check until you reach high-dollar values, some as high as $100," Sondhelm explained.
There is a solution, though, for users willing to give up some of the money they have earned via this route.
"Go to the cash-back site Butterflymall.com, register for free and you will get the convenience of one consolidated check for your purchases at more than 500 stores," Sondhelm explained.
Though the general-interest sites are popular at this time of year, so are special interest sites.
Gotham City Online -- gothamcityonline.com -- an e-commerce site that offers designer shoes at a discount, has noticed that purchases on its site "go through the roof" during the late summer and early fall, a spokeswoman told UPI.
"Feedback from moms has revealed that they feel comfortable allowing their kids to wear super-trendy styles when they aren't overpaying for them," she added.
Computer companies also are using the latest Internet technologies as a competitive edge online, so they can show parents of school-age children the features and price-to-performance ratio of their PCs.
One site, hpshopping.com, offers parents and other visitors an automatic price adjustment and shipping date tool. The tool helps simplify the process of building a custom PC. As the customer mixes and matches features of the made-to-order PC, the price and new ship dates for that particular configuration are displayed continuously in a box on the left side of the screen.
Students and faculty receive an additional 10 percent discount from the already discounted online price, a spokeswoman for HP told UPI.
According to the College Board, most students are paying more this year than last year, on average, for textbooks, as the cost of obtaining a higher education continues to soar. Research by eBay.com indicates the average cost of books, per semester, for a college student is $600, with biology textbooks being the most expensive of all required reading materials.
Another specialty site, BestBookBuys.com, provides online, comparison-shopping services for college students. Kids from 1,500 colleges have used the service since it started in 1997.
Seeking savings, students browse through books from dozens of online book sellers -- and can comparison shop simultaneously at Powell's, Barnes and Noble, and Overstock, among others -- often finding discounts of 31 percent from list price for the 5 million titles that the e-commerce site carries, a spokeswoman told UPI.
"Three popular college books -- 'Introduction to Algorithms and Java CD-ROM,' 'Microbiology: An Introduction' and 'Fundamentals of Adaptive Filtering' -- have a combined list price of $362.10," the HP spokeswoman told UPI.
A search at BestBookBuys.com, however, shows a student could buy those very same titles for $225.97, used -- a savings of $136.13, the spokeswoman added.
That is not the only thing college students or their parents can find online.
"For college students returning to class, you can furnish your entire dorm room from online retailers," Dianne M. Daniels, a consultant, parent of a teenager and author of "Polish and Presence: 31 Days to a New Image," told UPI. "There are often space planning hints and tips on the Web sites for a completely organized room."
Research by Euro RSCG NY, an advertising agency in New York City, shows one Internet technology has emerged quickly as something of a required purchase -- at least in terms of status -- for college students outfitting their dorms. That would be the iPod by Apple Computer, the tool used to download MP3 songs from the Internet.
"iPod will be ubiquitous on college campuses and in high school hallways this fall as legions of fans sing its praises," according to a report released last week by Euro RSCG. "Trend scouts are predicting the use of iPod for everything from flirting -- 'Wanna swap playlists?' -- to dee-jaying, to homework helping."
The report said Duke University in Durham, N.C., -- one of the nation's leading private colleges -- is providing each incoming freshman with his or her very own iPod, negating the need for parents to buy at least this item.
"The iPods can be loaded with class schedules, lesson plans and lectures," the Euro RSCG report said.
That's a great idea.
Ive been online shopping for several years. I love it! time saving and I let my daughter browse the clothes in the comfort of home and in our jammies! I havnt paid retail in forever! long live online shopping. Ebay is my favorite place cruise to the buy it now section and its off to the races!
I've noticed a big uptick in eBay textbook sales to homeschoolers. I recently sold several Teacher edition textbooks. Come to think of it, I think I will list a few more later this week. The homeschooling parents use those teacher editions for instructing their kids.
I figured that out before Al Gore invented the internet. I got the books' titles and edition and called up off campus bookstores to see what the special order price was. Often it was cheaper than the college's store. With the ease of the internet, I can't anyone imagine paying the college's price now.
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