Just back from a walk in the woods to collect holly and ivy. Christmas carols playing, we are now decorating the house to make it welcoming for friends and family next week.

This traditional approach contrasts with the modern way we are approaching shopping this year.

For the first time we have bought most of our presents online. It’s not that we dislike the experience of going out shopping. Far from it. We do. But at this time of year you face increasing traffic congestion, jams and hard to find parking spaces.

So what are we doing? Amazon gets our custom for books, DVD’s, PC games and some electronic goodies. Other specialist sites will be getting our custom too this year. We use customer and magazine reviews to help narrow choices and then look at what places have good deals and availability. Car parking fees and the cost of petrol now matches or exceeds the price of postage and packing when buying online so it is a financially neutral decision.

The power of search engines, online stores and payment was highlighted just before we went for our walk.

Someone said they wanted a bow and arrow for their Christmas present! Now that was a totally new one on us. Where do you go for this? Traditionally I would have looked in Yellow Pages and possibly driven miles to find a specialist site or even given up and got socks, DVD and books!

The solution. Google it! (Note: Now Google is officially a verb as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as at June 2006) Result? Lists of shops and information sites all over the country. The second shop we looked at had a great web site and a phone number to ring. In three rings it was answered – not by a call centre but someone working in the shop itself. Small and specialist it was using a web site to increase its visibility and presence. Rather than simply sell us one of the kits they had on offer they talked us through all the options. This involved talking about the physical characteristics of the person we were buying the present for. This impacts the size of the bow and arrows and weight of pull. A new world of archery technology for us novices! Using the web site pictures they guided us through everything we needed. Within 5 minutes the order was placed, money paid and shipping arranged. We know one person who will be really happy this year – even if a little short on socks compared to normal.

Now for the Christmas dinner food and drink. Can we Google that?