There’s one thing Amazon can’t give me

SHOPPING without leaving your couch isn’t enough to make Amazon a winner, writes Rebecca Baker. There’s something it just can’t give me.

After years of waiting, Amazon is finally in Australia. (Pic: Quinn Rooney)

SO Amazon — the world’s biggest online shopping company — has officially launched in Australia.

Apparently, it is big news but I’ve got to admit I really don’t get what all the hype is about.

And I, for one, won’t be browsing the site of the international retail giant to do my Christmas shopping.

Antiquated I may be but I just can’t seem to embrace the whole online shopping thing.

Maybe it’s because I am easily confused or it could be that I am notoriously bad at making even the smallest of decisions.

However, for me, clicking through a zillion pictures of sporting paraphernalia to try and choose the perfect gift for the kids simply leaves me exhausted and has me reaching for a glass of wine.

More so when the featured cricket bat is pictured next to these words: “P.S. Colour of the handle grip and carry bag may vary from actual image.”

Seriously, it doesn’t do much in terms of inspiring confidence and I’d much rather head to the Adelaide Cricket Warehouse where staff will patiently address any question a clueless mum might have.

I simply don’t care if the item is a “bestseller”, “top rated”, “most gifted” or “most wished for”. I just want a nice person to talk to me, ask me what I am looking for, offer me a few options or better still, provide a suggestion or two.

Nothing beats a bricks and mortar shopping experience at Christmas time. (Pic: Sebastian Kahnert)

Take the wonderfully passionate book people at Dymocks (Burnside is my local store) who are expert at knowing their product and what they don’t know, they’ll soon find out.

Or, the inner suburban supermarket that orders in each week a single Stock & Land newspaper for my friend’s retired farmer dad.

And Jo, at Likuid Espresso in the Adelaide CBD, whose warm, cheery and personalised welcome is a sure cure for the Mondayitis blues.

I’m a sucker for good old-fashioned service and will happily pay a few extra dollars for a bit of attention and one-on-one help.

Particularly if it comes with an offer to carry purchases to the car, which I got from the nice young chap from Bunnings at Kent Town at the weekend.

I’ll admit at times I’m taken in by the person, rather than the item, as happened recently when the lovely old dear at my local chemist recommended a foundation that was totally wrong for my skin. But still, I’ll go back to see her again because, really, she is sweet.

You see, I’ve reached a stage in my life when I’ll walk out of a store if the shop assistant is rude and makes no effort to hide her disappointment that I’m not a little better dressed or sporting a more glamorously coiffured head of hair, as she looks me up and down.

So who knows what the kids will get under the Christmas tree ... we’ll just have to wait to see what the nice man at their favourite actual, bricks and mortar store recommends.