I've always thought that it would be easy shopping for Mum. After all, I've known her for a long time, right? As a child, I've followed her around the house; I've seen her preparing all sorts of meals, watching sad movies on the TV, and generally fussing about the house. I know that she likes strawberries, cat figurines, non-stick cookware, denim pants, needlepoint, and manicures (but not in that order).

It's no big deal buying gifts for my mom whenever a special occasion comes around. I'll just pop into our local arcade, go to her favorite boutique, and buy her a gift. If I'm not in the mood to go out of the house, I just log-on to the Internet and browse the online shops. Like I said; easy, right?

Well, for the first few occasions, it was definitely easy. But now I find myself wandering around from with a glazed look in my eyes, trying to sort out the plethora of items and ideas that scream at me from the shelves and brightly-lit displays at the local shopping center. I've spent the past four hours going from place to place, and still no gift. The Christmas lights are starting to hurt my eyes, my feet are hurting from all the walking, and if I had to listen to 'Deck the Halls' one more time, may God help the first Santa Claus I see.

Alright, it's still no big deal. I go home and log-in to my PC. I've shopped on the Web several times already, so I know what to do. This was going to be a no-brainer for me. Why didn't I do this in the first place? I go to Google and type in the keywords. 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.

I must tell you, the wealth of information on the Internet had me virtually gasping for air. There was a lot to digest and sift through. The next several websites were the same. It seemed like I was in a mall again, only this time my index finger was the one hurting from all the mouse-clicks I had to do. It was not as easy as I thought. 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. They don't want to sift through layers and layers of categories just to find one item, 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 set-up my own gift shop on the Net shortly after realizing that I could attract more clients 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.

About the author:

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of http://www.sarahgifts.com which provides great gifts for friends and family. Visit our website to find the perfect last minute gifts for any occasion.