You would happily sing the carols if it weren’t for the prospect of emptying your pockets on the various gifts to be bought. With piles of shopping to do and very little time to complete it in, you may feel like you've lost your chance to economise and shop smartly. No fret, here's some simple and quick methods of shopping wisely, for electronics.

You may not have too much time on hand, but you still need to take a few minutes to research on products – both online and offline. If you have access to the Internet, then online is a quick and easy way of gathering information on the gadget you’re looking to buy. You could make your decision by referring to expert reviews as well as user reviews on personal tech sites as well as consumer forums and compare best prices on shopping sites such ebay or futurebazaar. If you don’t have time, the ideal thing to do would be purchase your already researched product on any of the shopping sites and get a home delivery at a minimal charge. Of course if you can squeeze in some time, then a quick tour of an electronic store wouldn’t hurt either, as this will give you a hands-on feel of the product.

Another thing to watch out for are festive discounts and offers. Being the end-of the year-holiday season, you can be assured that there will most definitely be exchange, combo and other such deals. One way of checking is on our website who knows you might even be tempted to take one of them up. You could check out some of the super saving deals at Panavision; Electrovision, combo offers at Santoshi ; for mobile phones – while the multi-branded Mobile store (link) and Subhiksha chain of stores dole seasonal price drops on their cell phones on stock, you are most likely to get goodies worth the buck from your local dealer as well. Dealers are offering mobile phones such as the Moto Rokr worth Rs 13,000 at around Rs 10,500 – this is one such example; check out our archive on best buys of the season at steals.