Matt Charlton

I read an interesting article on the BBC News site this morning (what? really? I hear you cry). 

Apparently in the US, the amount that people are spending online is decreasing rapidly in line with what’s going on in the general economy.  It’s the first downturn in online spending that has been seen since they started to monitor it back in 2001.  Figures are down 4% on last year.

Kelkoo have added their tuppence’ worth and have said that the opposite can be said for the UK and Europe, online shopping appears to be replacing the high street as the primary shopping location. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7749989.stm

I have to agree with this.  The majority of the money that I earn is spent online, not in a bricks and mortar shop.  At times of the year like this, when I’m holding out on buying things because I might get them as Christmas presents, I won’t be buying as much online so the food bills at the supermarket and lunches out in Halifax then my offline spending might be getting somewhere near my online spending.  If Sue buys the majority of my presents online and I buy the majority of her presents online it blows the balance out of the water again. 

I think last year was the first time I managed to completely avoid the shops at Christmas time.  As much as I like wandering round, I haven’t been to Meadowhall or the Trafford Centre for 2-3 years.  The White Rose centre I have been to this year, maybe once or twice earlier in the year, but certainly not in the last 6 months. 

The problem I have, especially with Amazon Prime is that I can’t just pick something up and buy it in the shop, I’ll price check it and if its cheaper then I have no problem in waiting till the next day for me to receive it. 

When you take something like Blu Ray for example – Tesco, (£1 in every £8 spent goes in their pocket in the UK) sell Blu Ray discs for between £20 and £25.  The same Blu Ray discs can be found on Amazon from £13-£17.  I have no quibbles about making a list of things I see when I’m out on my phone and buying them when I get home from online retailers. 

Hell, the last time I went to Leeds, it was a Friday.  I ordered stuff I’d seen and wanted on the train on the way back to Bradford and I had everything Saturday morning. 

I mean, there are occasions where the shops are good.  Cards for example, it’s nice to have a look round card shops (although I might look at trying moonpig out for Xmas cards this year).  HMV can sometimes be good, sometimes they even have deals that aren’t available on their website.  It’s also interesting to look around at the DVDs.  Play/Amazon/et al can be difficult to browse as a casual shopper, it depends on what they’re advertising. 

Speaking of Play, it’s been a long time since I had a proper good look around on there (I blame Amazon Prime), I’ll have to put some time aside to do so. 

Shopping on the high street (if you’re lucky enough to have one – in Bradford, we have a giant hole where ours used to be) especially at Christmas is stressful, busy and non productive.  It’s like wandering round the supermarket on a Saturday.  I avoid it like the plague.  Other people can be so inconsiderate, standing in the middle of the aisle, walking in front of you (some people do this incredibly slowly).  It’s why I prefer to go to the supermarket at 7am, the only downside of that is that you have to use the god awful self service checkouts.  I hate those things – but that’s another story entirely. 

So, to sum up.  Online shopping = WIN              Offline shopping = FAIL (with the occasional WIN thrown in for good measure)

This was going to be my Dear Santa letter – I was going to save it in draft, but I started to reminisce, so I’ll sort out my Christmas list in another post. 

This will be my 27th Christmas.  I know as the years have gone on, Christmas has felt less and less like it used to do.  I mean – we can’t carry on coming down the stairs to piles of presents laid out by our parents now can we?  I do miss the safety gate at the top of the stairs though.  Dad going down to check if “Santa had been”.  Then the mad rush as the four of us tried to get to the bottom of the stairs as quickly as possible. 

I wouldn’t mind digging out those camcorder tapes actually, it’d be nice to watch my reaction as I got the various bits and pieces. 

I remember Christmas mornings filled withsetting up board games (sticking stickers on things, putting batteries in things, building things).  I remember (and I’ll admit to) playing Mall Madness with my sisters.  that was a cool game.  Dreamphonewas very, very gay though.  That was where you had a phone and a bunch of cards with pictures of boys who may or may not fancy you and you had to phone them.  When you found the one that did fancy you it said “You’re right! I like you”.  Errugh.. It’s disturbing on so many levels. 

You can’t get lego like you used to either.  I had a fantastic castle, a really good fire station too.  It’s not even as though it’s just me getting older – I’ve looked, the lego that you get today is shite in comparison.  I’ve found that with a lot of the things we grew up with.  Take the Millennium Falcon.  The original one released in the 80s was miles and miles ahead in build quality.  Back then you could get a proper toy. 

I need to get hold of an Argos catalogue and have a look through.  I used to love doing that as a kid.  Whether or not there will be anything in there that I want and/or need is another question. 

I nearly bought myself one of those ball bearing Rollercoasters, it’d been reduced from £80 to £52 at the Gadgetshop.  My sensible head told me I’d play with it once and it’d go back in the box, so out of the basket it went.  I hate it when that happens.  Doesn’t seem to happen when it comes to gaming though.  If its gaming related, and I want it, I get it.  Unless its one of those gaming rocker chair thingies.  As cool as they are, I haven’t been able to buy one yet.  I’d have nowhere to put it when I wasn’t using it. 

I used to love Christmas.  I don’t think I ever stopped loving it, it’s just SAD inhibiting all of the joy.  That and Sue working the majority of it in the past put a real downer on it for me.  I can’t even begin to express in words how glad I am to be working at Frog.  It’s fantastic and I really love it.  It’s amazing how much a difference to your quality of life work can make.  This year I can’t wait for December 1st. 

Christmas music is going in the car, Christmas ringtone, watching the Christmas classic films, putting the tree up, decorating the room.  Who knows – I might even send Christmas cards. 

Christmas does change as you grow up, it’s less about the presents you get and more about the presents you give.  Seeing the reactions and smiles on the faces of the people that you love as they open what you’ve bought them.  I guess moving away from home makes it a little harder to feel like I belong.  I lived in that house for 6 years but it feels like I never did, my bedroom was reallocated before I’d even left – but that’s what you get when you have a big family.  And I love them all dearly. 

When you move away from home to start your own family, Christmas becomes more of a personal thing, especially until you have kids.  If your other half ends up working you start to wonder what the point is.  I know I’ve played WoW on Christmas day before because I’ve been back home on my own!

Not this year, we’re going to have the best Christmas ever. 

Santa Claus is coming.