With Christmas less than three months away and Covid-19-20-21 (who really knows) going as strong as ever, it’s anyone’s guess how the holiday will play out this year for shoppers.

According to sources on the internet, normal holiday shopping between November and December increases approximately 13 percent year over year. In May of 2020, with Corona surging and quarantine/lock-down/shelter-in-place raging, online shopping increased in popularity by 77 percent in a single month, a surge that generally takes four to six years over each twelve month period.

So, let’s face it, with a pandemic among us, Christmas shopping can’t help but look different this year than it ever has in most of our known pasts.

Amazon has led in e-commerce almost since its inception in 1994. Although we must consider that there was very little online competition at the time. If you asked shoppers in that decade about switching to online shopping, most said they would never convert. They enjoyed the “actual” experience more.

Amazon started as an online marketplace for books but expanded to sell electronics, software, video games, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. According to Wikipedia, in 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization.

In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market, substantially increasing Amazon's footprint as a physical retailer. In 2018, Amazon’s two-day delivery service, Amazon Prime, surpassed 100 million subscribers worldwide. In a continued effort to move ahead of the competition, Amazon is now offering next day shipping to Prime members for many of their items.

Walmart, once this nation’s number one brick-and-mortar retailer, has struggled to keep up, always seeming to ride on Amazon’s coattails for online sales options. This year, the e-commerce and box store retailer has announced a new way to shop their online outlet is on the horizon with virtual box openings and faster shipping. Consumers can already join the Walmart club. Benefits are supposed to rival those afforded Amazon Prime members. There have even been rumors that Walmart plans to start their own publishing house.

Even though when the pandemic first hit some items were as difficult to find online as they were in stores, many people remained faithful to their favorite e-commerce vendors. This brought about a surge toward home shopping with delivery options. It is already difficult to find any retailer who has no online presence. More and more, e-commerce is the only way to make purchases from many stores as brick-and-mortar is crumbling to dust..

For those who have fought for years against obtaining credit cards, that battle may be a thing of the past as well. Let’s be honest, do any of us really want to give a retailer our bank account information in order to buy a better mousetrap and get it by tomorrow? Especially when credit card companies will fight alongside you against the seller if there is an invalid charge? Of course, tomorrow will most likely bring another, entirely new option for online payment.

One thing is likely, if the pandemic continues into December, and according to news reports and statistics it probably will, even Santa may stay in quarantine.

Maybe we should wish for a white Christmas with no more infections instead of leather boots or new-up-to-the-second digital games. If that wish doesn’t materialize, maybe Santa will brave the virus to at least leave all of us some really fashionable masks.

Or just maybe, this Christmas will bring a reminder of how the holiday began, and what is truly important to remember. We may be locked into mostly online shopping for now, but we still have almost three months to get our priorities back in order.

Contact C. Taylor at cyntaylor2016@gmail.com