Personal Shopper Sites Make It Easier To Find The Perfect Gift

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Personal Shopper Sites Make Gift-Finding Easier

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Nov 24, 2008 7:39 pm US/Eastern

Personal Shopper Sites Make Gift-Finding Easier

BOSTON (WBZ) ―

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Figuring out what to buy for her friends and family is one of the most stressful parts of the holiday season for Liz Maverick. "What do you get for the guy who lives in Antarctica," she explained. That's right, one of her best friends lives there and finding a gift for him is never easy.

Liz agreed to try several personalized shopping websites like Findgift.com. It promises to make the search for the perfect gift a snap. "They're organized by occasion, by recipient, and a lot of times a sentiment," explained Findgift.com founder Bob Sakrzewski.

How Does It Work

The site is simple to use. You plug in your price range as well as details about the person for which you are buying a gift, things like: gender, relationship, age and interests. The site then suggests dozens of gift ideas and tells you exactly where you can buy them online. "For instance, say I'm doing a gift shop for my mom. I know she's into gardening and I know she's into eco-friendly gifts. I can select gardening, eco friendly, and it'll show me that subset of gifts that are applicable for my mom," Sakrezewski explained.

Liz also looked for gifts for her brother, who has everything and a New York City friend who's a fashionista. She thought some of the sites were a little too generic, but that others were very helpful. "I came across some sites that really were able to sort of personalize down and find gifts for people that I thought they would really like," she said.

Good Finds

On giftgirl.com, her favorite, she found a Parisian tote for her city friend. On Findgift.com, she thought the air combat experience for her brother was a good choice and for her ice loving friend, she found the Planet Earth DVD on gifts.com. "It's supposed to be amazing," she said, "amazing photography, so I think he'll really like that."

This method of retailing is challenging for these companies, it's more than just asking for preferences. "They really have to be up on the trends and the things that are happening and then they have to have the merchants to back whatever those categories," said Lauren Freedman of E-tailing Group.

Bottom Line

Overall, Liz liked this approach, thinking the prices were competitive and that it did make things easier.

"They were able to pinpoint things that I really like and that I thought my friends and family would really like," she said.

It could be the start of a new holiday tradition.