5 Online Tools Every Career Woman Must Have For Gift Giving

Taken from here.

The holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. Work piles up and on top of that you have to buy gifts for family and co-workers. You would love to go shopping but you are chained to a desk all day so that may make things a bit tricky. As we have discussed on this site a lot, outsourcing helps make your life easier which will make you less stressed and then you can concentrate on your work. Luckily a few years ago the internet was invented which gives us the best ability to do all of our shopping from our desks. And also, luckily, very smart people have designed tools to make shopping from your desk even easier.

Buyosphere is one of those tools and it is specifically aimed at the busy working woman. Tara Hunt, CEO and founder of Buyosphere told The Grindstone she and her co-founder came up with the idea because they are those busy career women who had this point of pain for years. Her point of inspiration for the company came when she was trying to find a black skirt. She thought this would be a very simple and straight-forward task. Not so much.

“That search took me 3.5 hours, through 14 online stores and I still didn’t find something quite right. I got frustrated and went to the mall after all. I thought, “This needs to be fixed.” We thought of that serendipitous moment when you are looking for something and someone else walks by us wearing it and we stop them and ask, “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?” and it solves our search needs. How could we create that online?”

We have events, have to keep up our wardrobe, have to still manage the buying of gifts and household items…but we have NO time to walk around a mall for hours. So we turn online, only to find that the sheer amount of choice is daunting. I’ve found (as a busy working woman – and a single mom for most of my life…my son is now grown up) that online shopping can be as time consuming and frustrating as going to the mall.”

Instead of going to Google and hopping around to every site you may already know (wondering if you’ve covered your bases) to do separate searches for, say, a dress for an upcoming holiday party, you just go to Buyosphere, type in: “I’m looking for “a dress for an upcoming holiday party.” Enter a description to narrow the search. Maybe, “It’s a cocktail party, but I’ll be surrounded by suits, reps and other professional contacts, so I don’t want to look to provocative. Still, I want people to remember me…so it should be a little saucy. No black. Everyone will be wearing black.” Then add that you need it by ‘x’ date and what you are willing to spend and hit ASK.

Here is a good example of someone asking about a scarf for a gala event. Then Buyosphere routes that question to people who may be able to help you find it: people who love to shop, stay up on the trends and the emerging shops you may have not heard of or have done those searches themselves lately. “They suggest answers to help you uncover unique finds you may have not even found after hours of searching on your own!” said Hunt.

Four other tools you should consider:

Etsy.com

Etsy is the world’s biggest handmade online marketplace. Etsy celebrates individual creativity in design and craftsmanship by connecting unique people, stories and items in a playful and meaningful way. Etsy provides a marketplace for crafters, artists and collectors to sell their handmade creations, vintage goods and crafting supplies. Plus it makes shopping easy for you. For anyone who loves a great handmade craft, this is the site for you.

Fab.com

Fab.com is another flash sale site, but instead of deals on dinner, yoga classes or high-end fashion, Fab.com caters to the design lover audience. In its first four months in business, Fab reached 750,000 users and $100,000 a day in sales. Like Buyosphere it is very social. It uses social networks to gather new users and rewards current users for bringing in their friends. After encouraging users to invite their friend, whether after a purchase or just on a whim, current users earn a $25 credit when their invited friend makes their first purchase.

Co-founder Jason Goldberg says, “Social is built into the core experience, and if you take that and couple it with design people who love sharing their latest design finds and showing off and seeing, it’s a natural fit.” Fab.com knows their users inside and out and capitalizes on their behaviors and friendships.

MrPorter.com

This is the perfect site for finding a great gift for your male co-workers or any guy in your life. The new site was pitched as the cousin of the successful Net-a-Porter site for women. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Porter features profiles of men from real life, including a motorbike designer, a banker and a painter, wearing stylish clothes. It offers a limited number of brands, figuring that men prefer a quicker, more selective shopping experience. The site is relatively uncluttered, and will offer short videos with style tips.

FredFlare.com

Fredflare.com is an online store selling various items, including accessories, men’s and women’s clothing, stationery and home decor. It sells many different brand names, such as Paul Frank and Tokidoki. It brings everything together.

This post was sponsored by Buyosphere.

Photo: YURALAITS ALBERT/Shutterstock.com

Post from: TheGrindstone