Tips and tools to help you … today and tomorrow.
When the holidays roll around, we may shop 'til we drop, but we want to do it with as much convenience and as little frustration as possible. And because shopping is something we all do -- whether to sustain life, keep up with the Joneses or bring a smile to the face of someone we love -- there is a never-ending demand for new and better ways to bring shoppers and sellers together.
Throughout history, every new shopping innovation has been a win-win for businesses and consumers, boosting sales for retailers by making it easier for shoppers to locate and purchase the products they want. Trudging between the individual shops of butcher, baker and candlestick maker in medieval times eventually gave way to the general store, which brought together many different items under one roof. The old general store evolved into a modern, multi-story department store, which later morphed into a multi-store shopping mall -- all in an effort to make shopping easier by putting more goods in one place and reducing the amount of time and travel shoppers had to invest.
Shopping is still evolving, with a constant stream of new tools, trends and technologies that make it easier, more efficient and more fun to find the perfect gift or the perfect tomato. The following list offers some of the bests shopping breakthroughs of today and tomorrow:
Shopping Today
Shop 2.0
Online shopping hasn't replaced brick-and-mortar stores, but it's certainly giving them a run for their money. Online shopping is expected to grow faster than traditional retail in 2009 and total $156 billion despite the recession, according to Forrester Research. The attractions of online shopping are easy to understand: you can find virtually anything for sale online; the store is always open; you can shop in your pajamas; and your purchases are delivered right to your door (or the door of whomever you choose). The Internet has even given rise to an increasing number of traditional/online retail hybrids. Many grocery stores now allow customers to fill a shopping cart online and either schedule home delivery or swing by on their way home to pick up their groceries at the curb.
Catalog in your pocket
The Internet has made it possible and often desirable to shop without leaving home, but when you do go out to the stores you can take the Web with you. Want to know more about that widget you just found on sale at Target? Check the product number, pull out your smartphone and look it up online. Smartphones put the Internet in the palm of your hand, making it easy to look up reviews and recommendations about almost any product, and to check for lower prices at competing stores and online retailers. You can also use your smartphone for more mundane shopping tasks such as checking store hours and locations or finding the nearest coffee shop where you can rest your tired feet and plan Phase 2 of your retail adventure.
Find it fast
Global Positioning System (GPS) technology combined with mapping or geospatial applications -- now available in an increasing number of passenger vehicles and smartphones -- can help shoppers zero in on products without getting lost or wasting time looking for the right store. Search by keyword -- anything from baby clothes to Jimmy Choo shoes -- and the names of nearby stores will pop up, along with turn-by-turn directions, store hours, contact information and product reviews.

Note:
Sustain: If you sustain something, you continue it or maintain it for a period of time.
Trudge: If you trudge somewhere, you walk there slowly and with heavy steps, especially because you are tired or unhappy.
Medieval: Something that is medieval relates to or was made in the period of European history between the end of the Roman Empire in 476 AD and about 1500 AD.
Evolve: If something evolves or you evolve it, it gradually develops over a period of time into something different and usually more advanced.
Mundane: Something that is mundane is very ordinary and not at all interesting or unusual.