Saturday, November 12, 2011

Hausfrau's Favourite Hobby: Online Shopping

The world of online shopping has opened up for me since we moved to Germany and had a baby. First of all, the selection in German online stores is so much larger than in Finland. Secondly, shopping is so much cheaper here. The sales are better, plus the delivery is usually free! DHL brings the shopping to your door possibly as fast as the next day.

I'm not a real fan of shopping clothes for myself online, as I'd like to try them on. But for baby clothes as well as other accessories, online shopping is a great option.

I must admit that I have even become a bit of a maniac in finding the cheapest offer. In choosing a product I might visit several 'real' stores, but after that I take the shopping online. For example, after choosing the pushchair I wanted, I spent quite a while online searching where I could get it the cheapest (one year ago Bugaboo Cameleon was cheapest in Dutch Mutti und Ich store, even with the delivery costs).

Another nice thing in online shopping are the Gutscheins (discount coupons). Every time you order something, you are provided with several coupons to other stores. And you would be a fool not to use them, right? ;)



I won't even start to list the online stores, which I visit regularly, but I think there are a couple worth mentioning:
  • Baby Markt: for anything baby-related. Very reliable and the delivery is free in Germany for orders over 20€. And if you'd like to order something that costs under 20€, add a Pampers packet to your Warenkorb ('Baby Markt macht den besten Preis!') and your order will be delivered free of charge!
  • Buch.de: Good selection of books in English and always free delivery
  • myToys.de: good selection of toys always in sale
  • There are several nice online stores for baby clothes, but one that I have used a couple of times is Ellerhop. I had thought I'd need to wait until January to get winter clothes with good price, but they already had the lovely Cupcake snowsuit in sale. 

If you still aren't convinced or if you need to explain your hobby to someone, please remember that online shopping is a great way to learn a language!

2 comments:

fiona said...

Ha! "Online shopping is a great way to learn a language" - that sounds like something I would say to justify my shopping addiction!

So I'm intrigued...just HOW EXPENSIVE is shopping in Finland? I find Germany far, far more expensive than the UK.

If you want to expand your eh... hobby, I know lots of great online shops I could share with you!

Frau Welle said...

Actually, I was able to use some words which I had learnt while shopping online! In my German class, I was asked to list items of clothing. For some reason all my words were in plural, like Kleider or Mützen...

According to an Eurostat study, Finland is the most expensive country in EU, so this isn't just my gut feeling. For many products, the price is slightly higher in Finland (about 10%), but the biggest difference comes from the discounts. It is usually cheapest for a Finn to order products from German or British online stores, even with the delivery costs.

And please share your online shopping experiences - I'm always happy to broaden my 'hobby' ;)