{"id":172,"date":"2015-12-03T07:14:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T07:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/industry\/2015\/12\/03\/online-christmas-shopping\/"},"modified":"2015-12-03T07:14:19","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T07:14:19","slug":"online-christmas-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/manufacturing\/2015\/12\/03\/online-christmas-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid the \u2018What am I supposed to do with this?\u2019 face"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s start with some numbers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the statistics are to be believed, then the average Brit will spend around three hours online shopping while at work in the run-up to Christmas. That is nearly 100 million hours combined. Now let\u2019s add online shopping outside of work. Plus hours spent pounding up and down the high street. And don\u2019t forget specific shopping days: Black Friday is this year predicted to be the first ever \u00a31bn shopping day in the UK. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday is on its tail and expected to equal or surpass last year\u2019s \u00a3650m.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re talking about hundreds of millions of hours and hundreds of millions of pounds. And with all that time and money being spent on a single activity, it begs a very specific question:<\/p>\n

Why do you still end up unwrapping a pair of reindeer-patterned socks? Or justifying to yourself why giving a gift voucher is acceptable.<\/p>\n

The point is, whether it\u2019s socks, vouchers, or a dodgy jumper, if on Christmas morning you open a gift from a well-meaning relative and think, \u2018What am I supposed to do with this?\u2019 then you understand how your friendly IT department feels on January 4th when they are flooded with hundreds of different devices received over Christmas and tasked with connecting them securely to the network, configuring access privileges device-by-device.<\/p>\n

Why not make it easy for them \u2013 and you \u2013 this year, and in doing so boost your own productivity and mobility \u2013 maybe even your health. Whether you\u2019re buying for yourself or for a loved one, make sure the \u2018What am I supposed to do with this?\u2019 moment becomes a thing of Christmas past.<\/p>\n

Bring on \u2018There\u2019s nothing I can\u2019t do with this.\u2019<\/p>\n

Christmas entertainment, New Year productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christmas afternoon. You\u2019re hiding from your relatives. You\u2019re in the spare bedroom with the door closed, a vintage episode of Only Fools and Horses loaded up on your just-opened tablet. You are going to have peace for half an hour. But the kids burst in. They want to play a game. No problem. You load up Candy Crush onto the tablet and start a little competition. Now let\u2019s fast forward a couple of weeks: You are visiting a customer in the New Year and you need to show them a live update on Excel that your colleague just finished back in the office. Same tablet, now running Office 365. You make a few notes directly on the screen with the pen based on your customer\u2019s feedback. Job done.<\/p>\n

Back on the train the tablet becomes a laptop and you finish a report and get it sent off. In all these scenarios the Surface Pro 4<\/u><\/a> you unwrapped on Christmas morning is making everything that little bit easier. And with Windows 10 it slips as effortlessly into your company\u2019s network as it does in your bag.<\/p>\n

A healthy start to 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re back to Christmas morning. Your significant other just unwraps one of the following items: an exercise bike, a home treadmill, a gym membership. And he or she is looking at you with a glare that says, \u2018So you\u2019re calling me fat?\u2019<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t your intention. You were thinking a healthy start to the new year and all that. But think again. What if exercise was actually fun? What if you could measure how well you were doing, set goals, and use a device as an all-round approach to healthier life.<\/p>\n

So forget his-and-hers towels. Try his-and-hers Bands \u2013 and that way you\u2019ll give and receive something you like. Pretty much the only way to make new years\u2019 resolutions fun, a Band<\/u><\/a> can monitor heart rate, activity and rest periods \u2013 even your sleep. So whether you\u2019re running, biking or in the gym, the Band<\/u><\/a> is there with you capturing all that data then presenting it in an easy-to-use manner. Working in sync with your phone, it also lets you access email, texts, GPS and everything else to keep you connected.<\/p>\n

From the school run to a cross country run, it\u2019s capturing everything about the life you\u2019re leading and helping you make it that little bit healthier.<\/p>\n

And a happy new year\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

So no more sitting at your desk during the pre-Christmas shopping season, sandwich in one hand while single-finger typing your address into a check-out page with that cold sweat of wondering whether you\u2019re making the right choice. Buy the right thing \u2013 and just to be safe, buy one for yourself too. So on Christmas morning, everyone in your family can be sure to unwrap something they\u2019ll love both on the day, and in the weeks to follow.<\/p>\n

Remember: A device isn\u2019t just for Christmas.
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