Mr. Porter: Coming To A Browser Near You

Online shopping for men hasn't quite caught the world by storm, yet. Thankfully, the consumer base has grown over the past few years and more retailers have expanded their online operations to include menswear.

After nearly a decade in business, Net-a-Porter has decided to launch it's male counterpart, Mr. Porter. In addition to the men who participate in e-commerce, Mr. Porter will be leveraging their existing female customer base hoping that women will purchase items for their spouses, boyfriends and friends. The website is set to launch sometime in January of 2011 so stay tuned! For more details on the launch, you can check out an article written by Hilary Alexander on Telegraph.co.uk.

Online shopping can be daunting sometimes. So if you're a newbie, here's a few things to consider:

• shipping costs - make sure to check out the shipping costs and factor that in to the overall price of the item you're purchasing
• delivery time - most retailers are pretty good with this but if you're in a rush - take note of the processing time, shipping time and potential delays when ordering
• return policy - sale or clearance items can sometimes be final sale so read the fine print
• duties/tariffs - if you're ordering items from a different country, make sure you check out if additional customs, duties or tariffs will be charged based on the value of your item. Depending on the shipping carrier, a brokerage fee may be applied to your purchase which again is based on the value of your item.

On a side note: I've been burned by all of the above items before so hopefully you can avoid some of the hassles I've been through.

All in all, online shopping is definitely one of my preferred avenues for grabbing decent threads at reasonable prices or for things that you normally wouldn't have access to. You avoid the hassle of going to the store, waiting in line and dealing with overly perky sales people. Plus, you can save a bundle if you know where to look and when. And if you don't, we try to help with that!