With the oil prices at $2 a liter, driving to a mall is going to be even more expensive than ever. Driving anywhere is going to be very costly.

Then there are the traffic jams which translate to more unproductive time in the car, wasting even more precious petrol.

Add to that the lack of parking space especially during peak periods where you have to circle the car park over and over again looking for a space to park. Oh, and the parking charges that would be involved.

Just getting there alone is going to cost you quite a bit.

As for the other factors like the crowds, the long queue to pay up, fighting over that last must have item with someone else who got to it at the same time. Hours going physically from place to place looking for the shop that still carries that toy your child must have for his birthday or for Christmas.

Why go through all that when you can shop without even leaving the comfort of your home?

Besides saving the petrol cost, you can compare the offerings of various stores without having to physically travel from store to store. For example, you can get the best deals on each item you intend to buy, check the brands, see the discounts just a mouse click away.

Some online stores have web only promotions. Others offer free shipping. Yet others offer online coupons you enter into a box when you check out for additional savings. All these add up to substantial savings if you buy online.

Another thing I love about online shopping, especially where gifts are concerned is that you can get the gifts delivered directly to the doorstep of the recipient. I'm really absent minded and tend to forget to bring gifts with me for birthdays and other occasions. What I do these days is to order the gift in advance and send it ahead of time to the birthday girl's home. She gets a pleasant surprise when the postman delivers her the gift ahead of time. I even send Christmas gifts this way. You can send yours with a note "Do not open until 25th December." if you want yours to be opened only on Christmas day.

I buy my skincare online too. Some things I just can't get at the neighbourhood store. Usually, the malls I frequent charge much higher prices for the same skincare product than my favourite online stores. You can find them in this Health and Beauty Product Discounts I don't blame them. Malls have higher operating costs.. rental costs for example, which they pass down to us in higher prices. Online store operate on much lower overheads and their savings are usually passed down to us, the customers.

All this adds up. By shopping online, saving on petrol, saving on time (time that could be used more productively), saving through discounts.. you end up with substantial savings.