Daniel Rubin: Joining the armchair trend in holiday shopping

My holiday shopping is done, and for once I didn't break a sweat.

For my siblings, my niece, and my nephews: Amazon gift cards. Delivery via Facebook saved me from the strain of having to look up their e-mail addresses.

This season has been all about the armchair.

For myself, I found a new Mophie on eBay - that's an iPhone case that doubles as a battery booster. My wife and I have this understanding in which we tend to buy things for ourselves that we want the other to "give" us. Saves time in return lines.

When it turned out that the Mophie didn't provide the juice needed for my iPhone's new operating system, back it went, and by shopping at Mophie's online store on Cyber Monday, I saved about 20 percent.

A lot has changed from the first time I typed my credit information onto an online customer form and then started praying.

Encryption has improved. I've relaxed. Why not? Both American Express and MasterCard have had my back when something's gone astray, such as when stuff started showing up on my bill this fall, a flight to Tahiti, or a few thousand dollars worth of Web-bought clothing.

I neither ordered nor got to live that lifestyle.

No worries - we froze the account, ordered new cards, saw the fraudulent charges disappear.

This season has been pleasantly mall-free. I have company in loving that.

"I feel like I don't get stressed about gifts anymore," says Theresa Kaskey, 32, of Chestnut Hill, a former market executive turned stay-at-home mom and aspiring doula.

For the last two years, she has done all of her holiday shopping online.

When we spoke - 21/2 weeks before Christmas - she hadn't begun to buy gifts for her family and friends, and said she'd probably get around to it over the next few days. No hurry.

"I know what I'll get. I'm super nerdy. I have a spreadsheet - what I bought, where, how much, when it's arriving - so I can check each one off.

"I don't miss fighting the crowds in shopping malls."

Increasingly, she shops on her smartphone using apps from stores like Gilt and Rue-La-La, and in this, she is part of a clear trend.

Nearly a third of all online traffic on Cyber Monday came from mobile devices - a 45 percent increase over last year, IBM reported. Purchases from mobiles soared, too, to 17 percent of all online sales that day, IBM said. That amounts to an increase of more than half over last year.

Smartphones were used more for browsing, IBM reported, and tablets more for sales.

Jess Mellen shops that way.

"I think I bought a stocking-stuffer at the zoo in September," said the 28-year-old Mount Airy woman, who is co-owner of the Falls Taproom. "Other than that, I have bought presents for my fiance, mom, stepdad, brother, sister-in-law, and friends solely online. You get better deals, you don't have to deal with the crowds, and there is usually a better selection as well. Also, it's so much easier to do price comparisons online."

Plus, she doesn't own a car.

Shawn Procter, a writer for Villanova University, mentioned another selling point for shopping exclusively online.

"I love the U.S. Postal Service," he said. "I think it is a miracle that I can put a stamp on an item, and it will end up in some far-flung place. If online shopping helps keep this amazing service from disappearing, then I'm all for it."