Editors' Choice: Top 9 Shopping Sites for 2009

Groupon

If you're looking for a great deal for a local, event-oriented gift, and you have a little bit of the gambler in you, Groupon might have what you're looking for.

It's a new concept in social couponing: The site offers one geo-specific deal a day, often a discounted meal, spa trip, event ticket or hotel stay. If enough buyers show up, the deal goes live. If not, no deal (and no financial loss to you if the deal falls through because your credit card isn't charged unless the deal happens).

Buyers can share the deal on their social networks to make the threshold, hence the social component. You can score some sweet deals, like half off at a high-end restaurant or a deeply discounted luxury hotel room. The only risk is not getting enough people to click on the deal.

Unlike other deal-of-the-day sites, Groupon's deals come from local businesses in each of the site's 45 cities throughout the United States, from Albuquerque to Chicago to Washington, D.C.

Mobile Comparison Shopping

RedLaser

This iPhone app lets you price-shop an item on hundreds of Web sites while you're standing in the store. Are you really getting the best price? Should you grab the item now or will you save money by ordering online even if you have to pay shipping costs?

This red-hot app is one of the most popular in the App Store and no wonder. You can do much more with it than price-shop, too. Swipe a bar code and add the item to a shopping list. Scan a book title and see who loved it and who hated it. Scan a movie and upload it to your TiVo.

Note: The app costs $1.99, and you'll need an iTunes account to buy it.

Gift Suggestion Engines

GiftGen Gift Ideas Generator

You have $20 to spend on your 56-year-old hippie in-laws, who live most of the year in a backwoods cabin but love gadgets. What do you get? GiftGen, a UK-based gift-suggestion service, suggests a personalized novel, garden sculpture or nature book and then points you to the Web sites and stores where you're most likely to find them.

To find your gift ideas, specify how much you want to spend, your recipient's age, the closest description of his or her character and whether the gift is for a man, a woman or a couple. Or, pick "either gender," which is helpful when you don't know who your recipient will be (as with corporate gift giving, for example.)

GiftGen serves up your suggestions on a results page with the product name, where to find it and comparison-shopping sites to be sure you're getting the best price. Download the iPhone app for those times when you're at the mall and suddenly realize you need something for your artsy 14-year-old niece.

Invitation-only Sales

Gilt Groupe

If your idea of bargain hunting is getting a Judith Leiber handbag below half price, we have the site for you. Gilt Groupe is one of a growing number of invitation-only, luxury-goods retailers that offer limited-time sales on designer goods that won't ever show up in the local outlet mall.

We picked Gilt to review over competitors such as RueLaLa, Beyond the Rack, ideeli and One Kings Lane because invitations are easier to secure and because it has a wide variety of designer merchandise with spin-off sites for menswear and travel.

Once you receive your invitation and create an account, you'll get a daily email announcing which sales are scheduled to start when. Once the sale goes live, you'd better pounce or you'll miss out on deals like shoes from Burberry, Alice + Olivia women's clothing, Marc by Marc Jacobs for men and a discounted room in a brand new AVIA luxury hotel.

Virtual Gifts

Facebook Gift Shop

Why would someone pay real money – from a few cents to serious dollars – on a pretend gift for "friends" you might never have met in real life? On Facebook, it's truly the thought that counts.

Virtual gifts – a kiss, teddy bear, cocktail, birthday cake or dancing ninja have long been a Facebook staple. Now you can also buy music downloads, make charitable donations and even choose physical presents from the RealGifts application - from a whoopee cushion to a dozen roses.

You need a Facebook account (gratis), and you must buy credits - about 10 cents each in US currency - before you can shop. Choose whether to announce your gift publicly or privately so that only the recipient sees it.

How much is really being spent on virtual gifts, which is a burgeoning industry? We found estimates that range from $40 million to $1 billion in 2009 on Facebook alone. Whatever it is, people are spending real money on pretend things.

Internet Marketing Geek Gift

SnapShirts

If you have Internet Marketers on your list, this custom T-shirt will show off their Web sites' tag cloud (a visualization that shows which words or phrases are most prominent on their site) and show onlookers what they're all about.

What? The site has no tag cloud? SnapShirts will help you generate one before you order. Be patient; if your chosen site is densely worded, the cloud could take a few minutes to generate but it will show up. This cloud, plus the Website's name, gets printed on a T-shirt for around $20 plus shipping. Or pick a sweatshirt, jersey, apron or tank top.