What prexactly is hybrid shopping?

'Hybrid shopping', to my mind, is online shopping combined with offline shopping. It is a mixture of both; a combination of all that is good about shopping on the Internet, with all that is good about shopping on your local high street. Interested? Okay, here is how hybrid shopping works.

On Friday morning, you telephone your best friend and suggest a shopping trip. You agree a time to meet the next day, perhaps at that nice little coffee shop, where you can exchange gossip and watch the world go by over a cappuccino.

Now you note down all the things you need, and would like, to buy. Then, you go online and use a price comparison site or two, to identify the keenest prices and the best suppliers locally. Be sure to make accurate notes of the product codes, at this stage. You might also print out colour pictures. Next, identify the location of local suppliers' shops and any other potential suppliers who have yet to acquire a presence on the 'net.

Armed with your shopping list, you meet up with your friend the next day. During coffee, you talk about your hybrid shopping plans. You modify your route between the local and potential suppliers, to minimise the amount of walking required. Then, you set off together to the first supplier.

When you are there, you take our your shopping list and find the items that you need and want. This is where the product codes and the colour pictures come in handy. If you find alternatives, you note down the product codes and prices, for further checking online later. When you have found the items you need and want, and any alternatives that you did not find on the 'net, do all the things you normally do when shopping.

You can check physically the materials and manufacturing standards. You can read the operating instructions and recycling guidelines. You can try garments on for size and check their style and shape. You can touch, smell and even taste items, if you like. You can tumble them about in your hands too. In other words, you can perform all the tasks that you cannot do currently when shopping online.

Your primary goal is to satisfy yourself that each item on your list is the best possible fit for your needs and wants. Your secondary goal is to ensure that you order the right items online later and avoid having to send back wrong items for refunds.

If you find exactly what you want, at acceptable prices, at the first high street shop you enter then fine, go ahead and make your purchases. If the items are not too heavy or awkward, you may not mind carrying them around for the rest of your shopping trip. However, I would recommend visiting at least three local suppliers, if you have the time and inclination to find the best deals.

During these visits, you should be updating and refining your shopping list. If you have avoided the temptation to buy on the high street, your hands should be free to do this. Also, if you are unencumbered by carrier bags and boxes, you might pop into that plush new bistro for lunch with your friend. If you meet someone nice there, you could head off in whichever direction takes your fancy, without having to lug your shopping back to your car first, where it is at the mercy of goodness knows who.

Let us say that you have resisted the understandable temptation to buy 'there and then', and that you were unlucky at lunch in meeting someone nice. In the afternoon, you could continue shopping offline and refining your list. As you are not lugging around additional weight and bulk, you should have enough energy to continue shopping until closing time, if you wish.

Once you get home, still relatively fresh, you fire up your Internet connection. Now, you re-visit the online shopping sites that you visited the previous day and visit any additional online shops that suggested themselves whilst you were out. You search for all the items that you saw, tested and liked during the day. You check the product codes and prices. You check the colours and sizes. You check the delivery details and charges. Then, you place your orders.

Even with any inconvenience and expense associated with home delivery, you might well find that it is cheaper to shop online. If it is marginally more expensive, well consider the additional charge in light of what it would have cost you to hire someone to carry your shopping around all day and then deliver it safely to your home.

At least you can go to bed now, comfortable in the knowledge that the items you have ordered online are likely to be 'right first time'! And, that you have had a nice day out at the shops with your friend. Hybrid shopping - what do you think? Will it catch on? Has it already caught on?