Then those savvy shoppers plan their strategy, making sure to set the alarm for the right time before they go to bed to assure an early start the next morning. That’s the only way to assure hey are first in line for in-demand items which may be the hottest toy in limited quantities or just a loss-leader price for something they are looking for or can use.

Black Friday shoppers create long lines waiting for store doors to open. Hyped up on early morning caffeine or just the excitement of the season, these shoppers rush to the aisles and displays where the best advertised deals are located as soon as the doors are open, often knocking into each and sometimes resulting in falls for some of the more fragile among them. In fact, fights and tussles have been reported in years past as people grab for limited items and swarm cash registers trying to make it to the next store on the list before all of the good stuff disappears.

Some people like this routine. Best girl friends team up for the shopping spree leaving husbands at home with the kids for at least this one day of the year.

Laden with bags, people practically jog in and out of mall stores to their cars in overcrowded parking lots. Feet hurt and tempers flare by the end of the day. (Particularly for the people who work in retail.)

On the other side of the spectrum, we at I-ShopTheWorld.com don’t even have to think about alarm clocks and comfortable shoes for Black Friday or any other day. We are always available with no lines, no waiting, and a reliable array of items we’ve carefully screened from around the world before they made it into our online catalog.

So, let’s compare. You can get up late on Black Friday, after sleeping well and digesting that big meal the day before, pick up the newspaper you didn’t have time to read the day before, toss the ads in the recycling bin, make a perfect cup of coffee, turn on your computer, and go shopping with us – here at I-ShopTheWorld.com.

No rush.

No hassle.

No driving around looking for a parking spot.

No large parcels  to lug to your car.

No concern that you are being watched and someone might break into your car and steal your purchases while you continue shopping.

Only a few minutes or an hour or so spent fulfilling your holiday gift list with silk clothing, jewelry, or craft purchases perfectly matched to the people you care about.

The rest of the day is yours. It’s open. You get to describe how it goes. You get to decide how you want to spend Black Friday. In fact, staying home and shopping online could turn that day into your Green Friday because you’ll save gas as well as all of that water soaking your tired aching body and feet at the end of the day.

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Please also Feel Free to Share Here any of your Past “Horror Stories” about Your previous Black Friday shopping experiences fighting the traffic, crowds and “crazed bargain hunters” , at all of the offline/”Brick and mortar” malls, departments stores, etc.

Please also Contact Us via our contact information on the About I-ShopTheWorld.com web page at:

http://i-shoptheworld.com/about/

and Please let us know of Anything else we may do here at I-ShopTheWorld.com to Help You make Your Black Friday Better, less rushed, less stressful, More Green, Easier and a More Enjoyable online Christmas shopping experience for You! ok?

and . . .

Please REPLY HERE and Share with All of Your Friends around how shopping online, particularly here at I-ShopTheWorld.com , helps make Your Black Friday less rushed, less stressful, More Green, Easier and a More Enjoyable Christmas shopping experience for You! ok?

We learned that some of the stuff it takes to outfit a store was to be sent to other stores. Some of it was offered to the people in the local community for purchase at very reasonable prices. Some of it went to charities who expressed a need for it. Some of it was sent to a metal recycler.

Too much of it ended up in a landfill.

We wondered about the reverse of that operation: the opening of a store. The truckloads of boxes that arrive carrying all of those tables, racks, shelving, signs, hangers, and other display paraphernalia. Boxes filled with foam blocks, bubble wrap, and wooden crates, as well as the products that will be for sale. We presume the cardboard is recycled, but we also presume that a lot of that stuff ends up in a landfill. We know their direct mail advertising pieces end up there for the most part.

A business like that makes a negative impact on the environment whether it’s opening or closing. A business like that has a high overhead in terms of energy consumption. A business like that requires you to get dressed and drive to it.

When we launched I-ShopTheWorld.com, we made no such impact. We are operating a virtual store, meaning we have no inventory on hand so we have no need for display tables and racks or warehouses full of storage shelves. Our suppliers stock their own merchandise and ship it directly to you as soon as you place your order. We quite simply handle the marketing and billing systems after we’ve found and approved products worthy of I-ShopTheWorld.com.

Doing business this way saves us money that we can pass along to our customers, and it saves our venders time and money they’d otherwise have to spend marketing and selling. Often our venders are offering unique or very limited edition merchandise. They can’t provide the quantities of mass produced products the big department stores require. Artisans and craftspeople much rather be creating new products than negotiating contracts and managing large teams of workers. They take pride in quality over quantity.

We are constantly looking for and evaluating new partnerships to broaden our product offerings. We like to get acquainted with our venders, inspect the merchandise, and even taste it, wear it, and share it with our test-shoppers.

We see our role as helping match creative people with customers who are looking for something different, something rare, something that will last a lifetime.

Now, that’s a win-win for all of us.

We think we are at the front of a future trend, a trend that can go a long way toward saving the resources of the world for more valuable things than store displays. We know our online shoppers are able to look at pictures in our virtual catalog and make purchasing decisions. They’ve been doing that and have sent us accolades in return for the experience.

We are challenged to make sure our visual merchandising and displays are effective and our Website is easy to navigate. If you ever find that’s not the case, please let us know.

We think the world of our customers and are pleased to help you make the world better.

- What do you think and feel when you watch a “brick and mortar” store close and get dismantled like this?

- Why online shopping is Good / Better for the Environment?

- What are All the other ways in which an online / virtual store conserves energy vs. a “brick and mortar” store?

- How handcrafted products consume less energy and non-renewable resources than manufactured / mass produced products?

- Would you buy / prefer “green” products made with recycled materials?

- Would you prefer products made with natural materials, like teak wood, silk, or water hyacinth versus non-renewable and/or non-biodegradable resources, like plastics, etc.?

- What other “green products” may we offer in which you might be interested?

- Your ideas regarding How else we may All work together to make Our World a Better place to live in for All of our Mutual Benefit?

Again, Please Reply and Post All of Your Comments HERE regarding all of this and anything else you can think of to why an Online Store Is Good for the Environment for the Mutual Benefit of Everyone Around The World, ok?!

We are “green” in that context, for sure, being an online shopping service, with an online catalog as opposed to a printed one. Our customers save gas by not having to get in their cars and drive someplace to shop. We all save paper through our online payment system. Even our accounting is online. We shop for environmentally friendly products to offer you and hope to add to that overall product category in the near future.

But, we beg to suggest that while green is a wonderful color, there are many other colors in nature that deserve preservation and honor. The blue of the sky with those puffy white clouds and their reflection in the waters of our oceans, lakes, and streams. The awesome browns, oranges, and yellows of fall foliage that signify life getting ready to take a rest so it can revive itself with the burst of those brilliant spring pastels. The  holiday colors that enable us to recognize the symbols we associate with fun times, family, and friends.

Those are colors we do not want to overlook. We need the whole visual perspective to really appreciate the life around us. We need all aspects of how that color is seen. We need the glint of the sun bouncing off of a piece of silver jewelry, like unique the SilverLily jewelry you get from I-ShopTheWorld.com. We need the warm brown hues of a delicious cake baked just right, like our Tortuga Rum Cakes. We need the beautiful colors of silk, like our classic Thai silk clothing.

We at I-ShopTheWorld.com may not start a campaign to put all colors on equal footing with green, but we do want to make you aware that you should not get so carried away being green that you overlook all of the other colors in the universe and forget to stop and appreciate the beauty of a piece of teak furniture or a flower in full bloom (we can sell you’re a silk orchid so that color is preserved for a very long time).

And, lest we be misunderstood, we do like green. We like the eco-greens that nature creates in grasses, leaves, and chameleons. We appreciate the greens that humans have devised for plastic recycling bins, bottles, and baubles. We totally enjoy the greens of money, a must for shoppers at I-ShopTheWorld.com.

We just wanted to let you, our visitors, know that you can relax and shop online and not obsess about whether or not you are doing good for the world by going green. So, if you are feeling blue or are red-in-the-face at that store in the mall, pay us a visit. Our products come in a variety of colors; many of them very mood enhancing. Look through our catalog, picture yourself glowing in the light of day while unpacking a box with something you’ve admired and given to yourself.

If you happen to be a “greenhorn” to online shopping, just give us a green light ‘cause we are here to help you.

http://i-shoptheworld.com/topics/going-green/

What All do You Think about  “Going Green“?

What do You think about the premise that “Shopping Online is Green”, more so than shopping offline in “brick and mortar” stores?

What “Green Initiatives” do You Support? and How?

How else might You Recommend that I-ShopTheWorld.com may be “More Green”?, and/or …

Support other “Green Initiatives”?

What else may We ALL Do Together to Help Save Our Environment and Save Our Planet?

…. for the Mutual Benefit of Everyone Around The World, ok?!

And much higher in many other countries, which has been the case for a long time, e.g. in Sierra Leone the current average gas price is $18.43, Wow! Huh?

I believe people are finally starting to take notice … to the *pain* in their pocketbook, huh? …

Are you feeling this “*pain* / pinch” in your pocketbook yet?

And more and more people are starting to look for ways to Save Money by Saving Gas! Right?

Well, in my humble opinion (IMHO), you may Save a Lot of Gas and Money by Shopping Online! …

Instead of, just for one, driving back and forth to the grocery store(s), drug store(s), department store(s), shopping mall(s), etc. etc. Right?!

Just think of …

How many times per week do you drive to one of these types of stores to buy something that you probably could have ordered online and had shipped directly to your doorstep? …

How much Money, and precious Gas, you could be saving each week by buying just some of these things online?

Let’s do some quick calculations of How Much Money / Gas You could Save Per Week (month, and/or year), by buying some of the things you routinely buy online instead, ok? …

Pick some items that you generally buy each week (or each month, etc.) that you could buy online instead.

For each of the stores that you would have to drive to in order to pick up these items …

Sum up the number of miles you would have to drive there and then back again for each of these trips …

Divide this number of miles by the average miles per gallon you get from the vehicle you would actually drive on these shopping trips …

That gives you the total number of gallons of gas that you would save each week (month or year) by buying these items online instead, right?

Now, how much <b>Extra Cash</b> would that leave in Your Pocket, instead of in the Gas Station’s each week (month or year)? …

Well, just multiple this number of gallons of gas times, let’s say, $4.00 per gallon, so …

How much Money would You Save?

Now, let’s take a look at the types of items you included as those that you felt you could buy online instead of driving to the store and see if we can’t find you even More Money/Gas You could Save!, ok?

I assume that you included (or should have) at least the following categories of items that you should be able to easily buy online vs. driving to a store to get:

1) Clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, etc.

2) Home and garden items

3) Entertainment items, like movies/DVD’s, music CD’s, books, etc.

4) Electronics and computer equipment and supplies

5) Parmecueticals / prescription drugs

Right?

Ok, so …

Did you consider? …

6) Groceries / food – YES! Believe it or not you may be able to even buy (at least some of) your groceries online and have them delivered to your door!

Check it out! e.g. on Google and see if you can’t find a company or even your local grocery store who will deliver your groceries right to your door!

And you can always order restaurant take out and save some gas (although maybe not money) vs. driving to the grocery store too, right?

6) Tobacco products (if you use them) – we order all of our “smokes” online and have a large box periodically delivered to our door!

And I am sure once you get into the “hang of it” to Always first search online to see if you can buy whatever it is you were going to drive to the store to get, that you will find All kinds of Additional Items you can buy online and save Even More Gas and Money by buying online first! Right?

(Please leave a Comment with any categories of items that you find you, and others, can buy online that we may have missed here for Everyone’s Benefit, ok?)

Ok, so let’s add all the new items that you didn’t think you could get online before and now realize you may be able to and recomputed your Gas and Money Savings using the forumula above …

Now How much Gas and Money would You Save each week, month, year Now?

(Please leave a Comment with how Much Gas and Money you calculated You would Save per week, month and/or year would be, ok?)

I believe you will be Surprised how much Gas and Money just buying what you can online will Save!

Weren’t you?!

Additionally, just think about how You are making a Significant Contribution to Saving the Precious Gas / Oil / Fossil Fuel reserves of Our Planet while we search for and implement more cost effective alternatives, by just Buying Online First!

In a subsequent posting, we may even talk more about how Buying Direct Online Saves Even More of the Precious Gas / Oil / Fossil Fuel reserves of Our Planet throughout the entire “value chain” and may ultimately Save You Even More Money!, ok?

Again, We want to know What You Think about all of this!, so …

Please Post Your Comments, on this and/or any other postings herein, and let us know what you think! Ok?

(References:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_usage_and_pricing#Average_gasoline_prices_around_the_world )