Consumer who shop online are likely to be much more efficient than folks who use extended lunch breaks waiting in line at the store and fighting holiday traffic on the way back to work. The study was released as online merchants gear up for “cyber monday. Org claims to have coined the expression in 2005 after retailers noticed a trend of people shopping online on the monday after thanksgiving.

Cyber monday is at the present viewed as the “ceremonial kickoff” to the online holiday shopping season . With concerns that the recession has converted many one-time big spenders into penny-pinchers, merchants online and off are estimated to offer holiday discounts this year as a way to get shoppers to loosen up.

You are not limited to one store, one high street or even one city, the ability to shop at any online store worldwide is at your fingertips.

You have an chance to express your individualism as you are not restricted to the same shops as everyone else in your local town. With the thousands of online stores obtainable prices are more competitive .

Christmas comes but once a year – and when it does, it is a very important time for retailers. It can mean the difference between a good year and a bad year. So it’s no surprise that so much effort goes into predicting what the best selling items will be every year.

Obviously this is especially true in the toys and children’s games category. Every year seems to throw up on hot must have toy that is all the rage for a while. In years gone by we have seen, in no particular order, toys such as Cabbage Patch Kids, Buzz Lightyear, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Furbies and Beyblades emerge as the Christmas best seller.

As a general rule, these toys will spend one year only as the best seller. Clearly a lot of these toys are still around – but they won’t claim the number one slot this year. A lot of them won’t even break into the top twenty best sellers.

Over the last few years, there have been toy crazes galore. From Tickle-Me-Elmos to Furbees, the technology with which toys are made is always improving. It seems as though every year, they come out with something that completely goes above and beyond what was released previously. This year, the mold has been broken with Zhu Zhu Pets.

The idea behind Zhu Zhu Pets is a interactive toy in the form of a pet hamster, with no mess or risk of losing the pet. This little critter is lively and life-like by being integrated with technology to produce both real hamster sounds and real hamster-like motions.

But is the Zhu Zhu pet hamster worth the hype? Surely one could see the pros in getting a pet of sorts for your little one that never soils the carpet or requires any real maintenance. But many are concerned that with a toy like this, it is actually neglecting to teach children the full responsibility called for in caring for an animal. The children cannot make a real connection with it so it doesn’t help develop a sense of responsibility.