Shopping procrastination? Tips for last-minute Christmas gifts online.
It seems like Black Friday happened just yesterday, but nearly a month has passed, and there are a mere five shopping days left until Christmas.
Despite best-laid plans, Christmas shopping can slip through cracks amid the onslaught of holiday parties, travel arrangements, and school pageants. If the space under your Christmas tree is looking a little bare, you aren't alone: Only 11.3 percent of 聽shoppers had all of their gifts bought as of Dec. 13, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. But don鈥檛 panic just yet, procrastinators: There鈥檚 still a little bit of time, even if you want to avoid the crowds and do your shopping from your computer. But you'd better hurry.
Dec. 21, Friday, is the last reliable day to purchase gifts online, says Dan de Grandpre, founder and CEO of , a site that tracks sales and provides money-saving tips to shoppers. 鈥淢ost sites have shipping deadlines, and that鈥檚 the most consistent day,鈥� he says. 鈥� Some are earlier, and some go as late as the 23rd . But the majority are the 21st .鈥�
The deals site fatwallet.com offers a comprehensive holiday 聽for hundreds of retail sites, ranging from Dec. 16 to two days before Christmas. For more serious slow pokes, has a handy list of stores open on Christmas Eve, and their hours. Most stores are open until 6 p.m., but a few are open later: Kmart closes at 10 p.m., and Target is open until 9 p.m. The only national retailer open on Christmas Day is Walgreens, open all day or for limited hours, depending on location. 聽
What to avoid
That said, there are some types of gifts, and sites, that you should avoid when working under a tight deadline. For one, large items 鈥� major appliances, televisions, and furniture 鈥� are problematic because of longer shipping times. 鈥淭hey ship by freight, and those can never ship overnight,鈥� Mr. DeGrandpre says.
Another bad idea: anything customizable. This includes gifts that are engraved or monogrammed, plus items that include personal photos. 鈥淭hese just take more time to make. Plus if there鈥檚 a typo in the thing that you ordered, you won鈥檛 have time to get it fixed,鈥� according to DeGrandpre.
That applies to less obvious gifts as well, like computers that need to be configured with specific settings like added memory.
As for the websites themselves, avoid retailers with business models that make for unreliable shipping timelines. DeGrandpre points to discount designer and flash sale sites, such as Gilt, Fab.com, and Groupon. 鈥淢ost of the time those sites don鈥檛 warehouse themselves. So they have two rounds of shipping, which takes at least 10 days,鈥� he says.聽
Also, stay away from online marketplaces for independent merchants, like Etsy, he adds. "It鈥檚 great [normally], but it鈥檚 a bunch of really small companies with no infrastructure. I wouldn鈥檛 buy anything next week from there.鈥�
Certain larger store are better than others. 鈥�Target and Kohls are good in store, but they are terrible to ship from, because they are slow at getting products out of their warehouses,鈥� DeGrandpre says. 鈥淵ou can pay extra for next day shipping, but it doesn't matter if it takes too long to process it. You won't get them before Christmas.鈥�
One of the trickier sites for shipping, strangely enough, is Amazon, which DeGrandpre calls 鈥渢he best and worst site for last-minute shippers.鈥澛� Items shipped by Amazon itself arrive reliably quickly, and the site offers two-day shipping up until 7 p.m. Dec. 21. But the same can鈥檛 be said for the thousands of merchants that sell their wares through Amazon Marketplace. Those aren鈥檛 as reliable, because so many items are sold through a third party. 鈥淎mazon doesn鈥檛 work very hard to tell you that. It鈥檚 a lot like eBay 苍辞飞.鈥�
To ensure fast shipping, make sure what you鈥檙e buying is being shipped through Amazon, and not through another Amazon user. This can take a few extra clicks.
What to buy
Happily, there is a bit of good news for the procrastinators among us. The closer it gets to Christmas, the cheaper Christmas-themed gifts become. It鈥檚 also a good time to buy items that, for whatever reason, haven鈥檛 sold particularly well during the initial holiday shopping rush. Certain toys become heavily discounted late. This year early winter has been fairly warm, so there are deals to be had on winter apparel. And while the discounts wont鈥� be as steep as they will be in January and February, the selection won鈥檛 be as picked over.
The best places to shop? Luxury department stores and their websites聽 鈥� places like Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Barneys New York. Many offer free shipping with no minimum purchase, and free expedited shipping as Christmas day draws near. Free shipping is also one of the only sales incentives offered by high-end jewelry stores, like Tiffany鈥檚. But a caveat: Christmas is among the most expensive times of year to buy jewelry, up there with Valentine鈥檚 Day and Mother鈥檚 Day.
Even for the worst procrastinators among us, there is one gift idea better than an I.O.U., or a photograph of an item you meant to buy on time: travel. 鈥淵ou just need to find a clever way to deliver it, DeGrandpre says. 鈥淚 did that once myself. I booked a Caribbean vacation on Christmas Eve and put my wife鈥檚 bikini in a box. It鈥檚 the ultimate procrastinator鈥檚 gift.鈥�
