I’ve said this before and I’ll gladly say it again, I love shopping online because it allows me to do so in quiet privacy, I can take my time browsing (ie. reading user reviews and comparing prices beforehand) and I don’t have to be with the masses of other shoppers, standing in line at the cashier’s, dragging shopping bags everywhere, etc. Ahem, as illustrated in the two pictures below.
Between traditional shopping and online shopping, if I must pick only one, I’ll definitely go for the latter and won’t feel like it has inconvenienced me in any way. In fact, the opposite rings true. I don’t even have to hop from store to store to compare products, I hop from browser tab to tab instead. Hehehe! I am a total sucker for the convenience of online shopping.
Ever since e-commerce arrived to the scene, I have been a very avid online shopper — in fact, I’ve also designed a couple of e-commerce sites myself during the glorious days of internet boom (ahh, the nostalgia). With today’s plethora of “Daily Deals” (DD) online shopping mechanics though, I often find myself overwhelmed by the countdown timer that marks the end of these deals. Most of the time I also ignore the avalanche of sale announcements in my mail inbox so I end up missing the sales. -__-” D’oh!
Nonetheless, I selectively take a peek at what’s going on occasionally and here’s sharing a handful fave sites that usually carry stuff I want to have and buy.
1. Fab
Fab is my top go-to DD shopping site because it’s catered to modern design. If you’re like me, you’re into swanky home accessories, artisanal food items, edgy jewelry, colorful graphic tees and bright bold prints. There are so many hip and gorgeous items offered daily on the site that I spasm with delight everytime. There is ALWAYS something super cool on the site, regardless of when you pop in. I have the app on my phone and iPad too, just so that I can drool over the array of eyecandy from time to time. Pretty things make me happy. :”)
2. Brands Fever
Here’s a Fab-like DD site that is based out of Singapore. I am mighty happy when a friend told me about Brands Fever recently and the sales can be quite attractive. Not as cool as Fab, imo, but from time to time there are several gems to be discovered. I like that the website welcomes brand suggestions that you want to see on the site, and presumably they will do their best to offer some bargains of those suggested brands.
3. Joss & Main
I was actively looking out for home accessories and interior decor items sometime last year when Joss & Main registered on my radar. The brands featured here aren’t as modish and funky as Fab (I know, I know….. it’s truly my fave). I’d say the products offered here are more refined and classy, but still tasteful, nice and some can be quite fun.
4. Gilt
I resisted for a long time to join Gilt – one of the very first DD sites, because it seemed to offer mostly mainstream designer brands (female fashion) which frankly I’m not really very into. Until my pal Andrea told me how she snagged a lot of really cute clothes for her toddler niece at incredible bargains and that got me interested in checking out what the site might have for my toddler nephew. I personally may not be into designer brands but I don’t mind dressing my nephew in them, heheh! (Oh lawd, I’m so gonna turn my kids into fashionis-tots when I have them one day). The Gilt site has grown so much over the last few short years that it now also includes food and travel.
Speaking of travel, has any of you bought these travel deals online before? How does it work – like Hotwire or Priceline or something? Supposedly Gilt is a luxe site though, so consumers will get more control of their travel preferences, no?
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So that’s that. Separate from the actual shopping experience, the geek in me actually study the different websites’ UX and site architecture, and get fully immersed into the experience of what works and what doesn’t. I don’t know why I do that, it must be a professional hazard of some sort. Heh!
I still think that Fab is a very good DD site, from the product curations to the actual functionality of the website itself. I highly recommend that you check it out. And if you know of any other sites similar to it, please please please share them with me. TIA!
What are your favorite “Daily Deals” websites? Share them with me too please. :)
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