During the holiday season, students and the Rockbridge community look for Christmas gifts and deals. The popular shopping days, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, provide deals and discounts that help make holiday shopping stress-free.

Based on a recent poll, popular websites students use include Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Walmart, and Target. Students, teachers, and the community use these websites to buy gifts for family and friends at an affordable and convenient platform.

Seventy-eight percent of the student body voted that Amazon was their favorite to shop at. Between its many deals and variety of gifts for all types of people, many are interested in buying here. Another factor that strikes interest is the ability to sign up for Amazon Prime. Prime helps transport gifts right to your doorstep fast. This advantage is very helpful for stressed last minute shopping near Christmastime.

Senior Delaney Penix adds that she bought something on Amazon.

“I bought a new calendar on Amazon to organize my days better”, said Penix.

Another major benefit that Amazon provides are the holiday gift guides. Gifts and products are sorted into prices, deals, and categories. These features help solve the question of what to get for family and friends. Affordable and helpful gift ideas are provided to shoppers. 

Five percent of students voted for Target as their favorite place to shop for the holiday season. Target’s overall popularity comes from its cute, stylish, and trendy products that run through the student body and the community. Along with those students, junior Madison Poulsen shared her opinion on Target’s online website. 

“I like Target a lot because it has a really wide variety of stuff, from clothes and shoes to cosmetics and hair products, that I’m interested in. In addition to this, the prices are really affordable considering the good quality of everything” said Poulsen. 

Another online platform used by many is Etsy. Etsy’s uniqueness and mostly handmade and small business products contribute to their reputation. When the poll was sent out, around twelve percent of students voted for Etsy. The small businesses who sell products on the site provide shoppers with crafts, customized items, and specialized gifts for family and friends near the holidays. 

In addition to going straight to these popular online stores, students can also access gift guide websites to find products from big and small stores. One popular website is Best. Best provides pages and folders for different age groups. In each category is a link to the store and the cost of the gift. 

There are also different online stores that students said were their favorites. Some of these stores were Shein, Aerie, Boot Barn, and Ipsy. These stores carry more specific items that different people have interests in. 

One of the major benefits of large websites like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Etsy, and Ebay is that there is almost everything you would want to buy. These big stores hold gifts for everyone. For easy navigation, these store websites have tabs on the side and top of pages to make it easier when searching. These helpful features aid Christmas shoppers and make it convenient and easy. With that said, if you find yourself scouring for holiday gifts, go check out Target, Amazon, or Etsy.