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Somehow, I've never thought it would be so hard finding a gift for Mom. 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 baking cookies and pies, watching those soap operas on the TV, and generally fussing about the house. I know that she likes chocolates, cat figurines, non-stick cookware, khaki pants, crotcheting, and pedicures (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 the nearest shopping mall, go to her favorite outlet, 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 look for something online. Like I said; easy, right?

Well, it's definitely easy for the first, second, and even third Christmases. But now I find myself wandering around from shop to shop with a glazed look in my eyes, trying to sort out the overabundant items and ideas that scream at me from the shelves and brightly-lit displays at the local shopping mall. It's already three in the afternoon, and I haven't picked out a single thing. The Christmas lights are starting to hurt my eyes, my feet are DEFINITELY sore, and I know that if I have to listen to that pesky 'Deck the Halls' song one more time, I'm going to deck the first Santa Claus I see.

But there's one more option. I go home and log-in to my PC. Being Internet-savvy, I know there are a lot of online gift shops on the Web. This was going to be a no-brainer for me. Why didn't I do this in the first place? I type in 'gifts for women' in Google and press ENTER. Big mistake. Almost a hundred websites appeared out of nowhere. It's going to take forever to sort this one out. With nowhere else to go, I said a short prayer and dived right 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, but this time my index finger was the one hurting as I point-and-clicked my way around the Web. 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 prices and product description must be easily 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 store on the Internet shortly after realizing that I could attract more shoppers 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.