Online shopping website Ferrit.co.nz, who you’ll probably know from their extensive advertising campaigns that have been just about everywhere in recent years, have decided to close.

Owned by Telecom, the shopping website has never returned a profit since its launch in 2005. It started with around 150 online stores and toted itself as a true online mall. The number of stores has since decreased to 90.

Ferrit employs 24 permanent staff and 13 contractors, and while Telecom will try to place them in other parts throughout the company, they can’t guarantee that there won’t be any job losses.

Debit cards are a reasonably new thing in New Zealand and are being pitched quite strongly as the answer to shopping online this holiday season. If you’re concerned about going over budget on the credit card, or you don’t yet have a credit card (and tend to borrow one off a parent or flatmate), a debit card may be the solution for you.

The Visa debit card from Westpac (called the DebitPlus Card) has been introduced as the best way to shop online and overseas when attaching to a New Zealand bank account.

Also launched this year is the Loaded Card, again from Visa and available through New Zealand Post’s new website, loadedcard.co.nz which is a re-loadable pre-paid Visa card. This card provides roughly the same benefits in shopping online as the DebitPlus, however it is not attached to a standard bank account.

Debit cards that can purchase online are the standard option in many countries overseas (e.g. in the UK with Maestro and Solo cards) although in New Zealand it was EFTPOS that took off from an early stage (which could not easily transact online).

According to a recent US study, consumers now prefer online bargain shopping to in-store shopping for holiday gifts. It seems busy malls and shopping centres aren’t the primary place for Christmas presents anymore for anyone who normally purchases anything online at least four times a year.

The reasons for finding bargains online are mainly attributed to the potential savings in time, which 88% of respondents designated as their key reason for shopping on the net. Locating hard to find products, avoiding mall crowds and greater selection were also deciding factors in shopping online instead of in physical stores.

E-tailing Group, the body who conducted the survey, stated that value spending is definitely the mantra this year as multitasking shoppers keep tabs on the web to get the best deals:

“Holiday gift buying is particularly impacted by this propensity for shopping smart as consumers preview online to get the most for their money.”

In New Zealand, things are set to follow the trend with online department stores offering bigger and better ranges of branded products as heavily discounted prices. When safe shopping online is so fast and easy, why wouldn’t you want to avoid the shopping centres this holiday season?

Image from Flickr.