According to a study by BizRate Research, 60% of women were already planning their online buying in September, compared to only 42% of men. Women are also reported to carry the burden of Christmas shopping with 55% taking on the responsibility, compared to only 45% of men. However, as more and more retailers go online, women can exploit the internet by saving themselves time, money and effort.

There are many advantages to shopping online:

* You have more choice * Prices tend to be lower * It's scientifically proven to be less stressful!

Choice:

Even if you live in a big city, you'd have to be prepared to shop in multiple districts to get the same choice that you would have online. Most high street retailers now have a presence on the internet in any case and you may find that the website could offer more choice than your local store. In addition to big brand names, there are also lots of specialist sites on the internet - which only have an online presence. Such online specialists include CCL - a computer system and accessory specialist, Justtoys -with toys for kids and "big kids" ( http://www.justtoys.com/ ) and ChristmasHamper.com ( http://www.christmashamper.c om/ )or Highland Fayre which specialise in luxury food and drink hampers.

Lower prices:

Many websites offer minimal delivery charges and because they don't have the same costs as a bricks and mortar business, their prices to the consumer are often lower. Most transactions on the internet start with a search engine, but this is not the only method of research that you can do for your Christmas shopping. Perhaps you have heard of price comparison sites which exist for very specific markets such as personal finance like moneynet.co.uk ( http://www.moneynet.co.uk/ ) or for more general shopping services (Kelkoo, Ciao ). These sites act as mini search engines and they will collect data from a range of services - showing the results of products with the lowest prices.

Internet shopping is healthier

Internetretailer.com reported in 2003 that when twin sisters were asked to conduct Christmas shopping - one online, one offline, the sister who did her shopping on the internet fared much better. ( http: //www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=10847 )The sister who shopped on the high street took four hours to complete her shopping trip. At the start of the shopping expedition, this sister had a heart rate of 67 which rose to 138 whilst shopping and was still 79 when she got home - apparently "tired and cold, with sore feet".

On the other hand, her twin sister who had done her Christmas shopping online - took only 36 minutes to do her purchasing - and that was without broadband! Her initial heart rate was 66 and didn't rise above 67. Instead of dragging the kids around the shops, this twin was able to have them on her lap, and all the shopping was delivered direct to the home.

And if you want some assistance in the New Year to lose those few extra pounds, there's always online help for losing weight. The high profile website theleanteam.co.uk, as featured on Channel 4, provides useful health advice and if that still isn't enough to tempt you online for Christmas - take a look at Disco Dancing Santa - http://www. northpole.com/Clubhouse/DancingSanta/

About the author:

Rachel lives in Edinburgh in bonnie Scotland and writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla - a mighty personalfinanosaurus. http://www.cashzilla.co.uk Contact details: Rachel Lane E-mail: rachel@positiveinterest.com Phone: 0131 561 2251