I've always thought that it would be easy shopping for Mum. After all, I've known her for a long time, right? I've followed her around the house when I was a child; I've seen her baking cookies and muffins, watching sad movies on the TV, and generally fussing about the house. I know that she likes chocolates, angel figurines, non-stick cookware, khaki pants, needlepoint, and foot massages (but not in that order).

When Christmas comes around the corner, it's no big deal buying a special gift for her. I'll just pop into the local shopping mall, go to her favourite boutique, and buy her a gift. If I'm not in the mood to go out of the house, I can always fire up my computer and browse the online shops. Like I said; easy, right?

Well, it's definitely easy for the first, second, and even third Christmases. But now I find myself wandering around from shop to shop with a glazed look in my eyes, trying to sort out the plethora of items and ideas that scream at me from the rows of shelves and brightly-lit displays at the local shopping centre. It's already three in the afternoon, and I haven't picked out a single thing. My eyes are starting to hurt from the Christmas lights, my feet are DEFINITELY sore, and I know that if I have to listen to that pesky "Deck the Halls" song one more time, I'm going to deck the first Santa Claus I see.

Alright, it's still no big deal. I go home and log-in to my PC. Being Internet-savvy, I know there are a lot of online gift shops on the Web. "Heh-heh, this is going to be easy", I think to myself. Why didn't I do this in the first place? I type in "gifts for women" in Google and press ENTER. Whoa - Big mistake. There are lots of results out there, and I mean LOTS. It's going to take forever to sort this one out. So I take a deep breath, sent out a short prayer for above, and dived straight in.

The first few websites were quite nice, but it seemed that I had to poke around some more to actually find the one present I wanted. The next several websites were the same. It really was the equivalent of walking around a shopping centre, only this time my index finger was the one hurting from all the mouse-clicks I had to do. Something had to be done about this. Shopping online was supposed to be painless and fast.

What online shoppers are looking for is the convenience and ease of use that good online stores are supposed to provide to their customers. Items must be properly arranged in specific categories to allow quicker searching, and the item's details and price must be easily found and read. A friend once told me about a website where he had to read the product description in what seemed like fine print!

As for me, I established my own gift shop on the Internet shortly after realizing that I could attract more customers by designing the site based on what I learned from my own experiences as a shopper. Now I have no problem finding gifts for mom, and for everyone else, too.