Skip to main content

Last Minute Christmas Shopping Online

After those final delivery deadlines have passed and even after the shops have closed, Online stores that fulfil through downloads are still available.

These stores can give a whole new meaning to last minute Christmas shopping.

The goods available as downloads these days include a whole range of material, from software including games through movies and e-books to the ever popular music options and services including airline and cinema tickets, holiday vouchers, mobile phone airtime and ring tones.

In some ways there is nothing new about the principal of last minute shopping on line. Here in the UK a videotex system called Prestel introduced e-mail in 1981 and shortly there after online purchase and down load of software was introduced. (In those days before bloatware I could access an e-mail system using a 20 line Basic programme so the software downloads were tiny by today's standards.) That was handy because Prestel used very, very, very slow modems and clunky graphics but it was still the platform for one of the first major IT security scandal involving access to Prince Phillip's e-mail account. In those days you charged your purchases to your phone bill - an approach that is still floating around today.

It has been the cost, availability and above all consumer confidence in payment methods for online shopping which has governed the rate of progress over the last 20+ years.

The distribution costs of the online retailer comprised the web site services, shop software and the card acceptance company charges. For a long time the shop software was seen as a highly specialist and high cost area but new solutions have emerged in the last few years that have broken down this barrier. At Download2MP3.com we use two of those approaches. For small purchases of one or two recordings we have adopted the BitPass system. They provide online payment facilities backed off onto the consumer's credit or debit card which permit economically viable transactions for goods or services priced at fractions of a dollar. This is particularly helpful for the distribution of electronic media including MP3 files. For larger orders we encourage customers to set up an account with us using the open source OsCommerce application and payment facilities provided by PayPal where the economics kick in at somewhat higher value transactions.

Availability of content has progressed as secure and efficient file format standards such as PDF and MP3 have been established, encryption for secure transactions introduced and tested in practice and dramatically increased bandwidth at low cost has made it widely accessible.

Consumer confidence has taken some knocks and care is still called for. But with low value, digital content based transactions the risks are pretty low. Online retailers are generally well aware of the need to maintain consumer confidence and will deal fairly with any issues that may arise and the security problems with physical delivery do not arise.

So we have reached the stage where it is perfectly possible to buy substantial products online easily, with confidence and importantly at this time of year, at the time and place of your choice.

Popular posts from this blog

Shopping Online – Protect Yourself

A slight change of tack - I though that the following article makes a good point: Shopping Online -– Protect Yourself These days, there are great bargains to be found by shopping online. Many items that previously were only available in stores are now being bought and sold online every day. Books, cds, DVDs and electronics are all growing in popularity as online purchases. Then there are things like flights, hotel bookings, car rentals and the like that are which are well established in the online shopping world. More and more stores are putting up websites that allow you to make online orders and even supermarkets now let you do your grocery shopping online and they'’ll deliver the goods to your door. Added to this growth in stores and other big business websites, there are also millions of small traders offering you goods online too. Online auction sites such as eBay are experiencing phenomenal success. These types of purchases however carry the risk that you do not really know w

Introducing Children To Music… Strategies For Success

While we struggle to restore full menu fuctionality We thought you'd like to hear about a more uplifting topic: Introducing Children To Music - Strategies For Success I've heard a million parents lament the fact that they didn'’t get their children interested in music sooner. There are also hundreds of adults out there that wish they had learned how to play an instrument when they were younger. Studies actually support the idea that music stimulates certain brain connections and can actually help children grow smarter! Music also provides an invaluable outlet for safe expression of feelings and emotions, and can also serve as an important learning tool throughout your children's lives! Music helps educate in many ways, by developing children'’s memory skills and nourishing their spirit. Now, some children are a bit resistant to music at first, but you can easily find ways to encourage them to enjoy music in many different forms early in life. You need to simply adop

Visitor Volumes down - not sure why

Yes the puzzle continues. We know that there has been a significant Google update but the impact on our SERPs has generally not been too significant - the usual crop of ups and downs spiced up by the odd disappearance. But the last couple of days have been 25% down on the previous working day run rate. Remember - don't panic over a couple of day's figures! So we are going to have a long weekend - back next Wednesday (for our small faithful band of regular readers). This trip will be a test of some technology we are planning to take on a much longer excursion later in the year - so we may improve on that if we find Wifi hotspots in North Wales. If you are one of that faithful band it would be fascinating to hear from you. This daily exercise in one way communication gives focus to my morning review of yesterday's data but the complete absence of response is a bit weird. I have to say it is matched by the lack of response on the SEO board where I have zero credibility and