Offline cashback or online discounts? Shopping at the start

State Cashback gives you 10%, brick-and-mortar stores offer double-digit discounts to empty warehouses, and e-commerce stores are basking in a sales season that has already largely sold out (and has apparently gone very well). The season finale is now in the hands of buyers who, at least for a few weeks, will have more freedom of choice: online or offline?

Christmas gifts: online option

The online option is often limited to large marketplaces, but in reality the digital dimension puts you in contact with all those merchants who have already taken steps to create of their own community and are monetizing their choices by offering their services through websites and social channels. On this front a lot has already changed in the last few months (this is proof of the great success of Shopify in this lockdown season), but a lot will evolve in the months to come. 'last showcase of opportunities to be seized within the next few days: although discounts are promised until December 23rd, it is clear that delivery times are gradually becoming prohibitive to hope to put a package under the tree. In short, you need to choose immediately: here the Amazon Christmas offers, here the eBay Christmas offers.

Christmas gifts: offline option

Offline purchases, in this particular vintage, have a new and particular flavor. First of all they allow you to go out, to return to the streets (albeit with the greatest possible precaution, because the consequences will be paid between January and February with the dreaded "third wave"); moreover, because they allow to support merchants, commerce, the urban fabric and all the precious goods that it includes in social terms; finally, because the State Cashback gives an additional 10% discount that can certainly be tempting in a low-budget Christmas season for most families. Those wishing to take advantage of it can therefore activate the refund through the IO app, knowing that purchases can start from the day after the transaction is closed.

Unlike the online alternatives, the offline option allows you to touch the goods and to take them home even in extremis: in view of the arrival of new yellow areas within the middle of the month, this will be the best time to give up on shopping and start recording transactions on your cashback archive.

Online or offline, then? The choice can be ethical, it can be with a view to saving or it can be dictated by the delivery times of the product. However, this year has never been a choice made of awareness, because we are all faced with these problems and we will deal with them every single day for a long time to come. However, between discounts and shopping, caution should not be forgotten, so that it becomes an integral part of the Christmas spirit: any imprudence could cost a lot of home both to individuals and to the community, until the distribution of vaccines is sufficiently wide and rooted.