It seems that online shopping is up and more and more people are making their purchases online.  I used to think I would never do that; I would never put my personal banking and credit information online.  I tried to resist as long as I could but going to stores made me more open to shopping online.  People shop online because they won’t be hassled by sales people; like how they are always following you around the store or trying to get you to buy things you don’t need by making small talk.  I particularly dislike shopping during the Christmas season—stores are usually crowded and sales people are trying to make their yearly quota on your holiday spirit.  I find when I go into a store I often walk out with things that were not on my list.  When online, my shopping stays focused on what I need and not the crap I think I need, and when I am done I just check out.  NO LINES!  I have less buyer’s remorse when I shop online.  Also if they give free shipping it’s almost the same as going to the store, the only downside, you have to wait a day or two or even a week to get your product—oh well.  Now I know some would say going to the stores keep people working, but couldn’t those people just be shifted to shipping clerks instead of check-out clerks?  I was in a store the other day and asked a clerk where was the hair products—they didn’t know, online I can just type “hair products” and I have a bunch of stores to choose or I can go to a particular store and do the same search and find the hair products.  It took me almost ten minutes to find the hair products because after he asked someone and they informed him where it was, he came back and told me “aisle five”—well the aisles were double aisles, so when you were standing in aisle four you were also standing in aisle fourteen and aisle five was tucked away around a solid wall in the store—online I would have found aisle five in three seconds, and I would have customer reviews—you don’t get customer reviews when you go to the store.  I have to admit I am still reluctant to buy clothing online, I guess it goes back to the old catalog days when if you ordered something, upon arrival it wasn’t anything like how it “looked” in the catalog.  There is something about touching the fabric of the clothing or trying on the shoes you are going to wear.  I think online shopping provides a certain level of control that is not available when you go into the store.