Twas Thanksgiving night, and all through the house

From every room, there was the clicking of a computer mouse.

The Black Friday ads were stacked on a table with care,

While the family researched online if the sale offers were fair.

There were discounts in banner ads providing incentive to buy,

From retailer sites I’d visited sometime after July.

(How did they know I still wanted those jewels?

Probably from building good retargeting cookie pools!)

I logged into Facebook to check out my Wall,

And was bombarded with ads for the mall.

And each of my friends displayed at least one “like”

Of a retailer, a product, or brand page alike.

The emails poured in, as did the Tweets,

Touting percentages off, free shipping, and other such treats.

And mom on her tablet, and me on my Mac,

Plotted our shopping route…  our plan of attack.

And so the next morning, I awoke at five

So that to the mall, I could make the drive.

I plotted my route via Google Maps.

And wished they’d have vacant parking alert apps.

The shoppers were bustling through the retail wonderland

Well on their way to getting those deals, coupons in hand.

When suddenly in my purse there arose a ringing

I dug through to find it was my phone that was singing.

With one eye still on the road, I glanced down to see

It was an SMS marketing message to me.

The scarf I’d been eying is now half the price!

But for only two hours…  It was enough to entice.

I circled and circled, and finally parked the car,

Dashed into the first store, to find a poster with a QR.

I scanned the code, just to see what I’d get,

It was access to coupons, which is exactly what I’d bet.

I stopped and got coffee, just to rest for a while.

Checked in through Foursquare who offered a free trial.

Played games on my phone, and posted a Tweet,

While enjoying my free peppermint mocha treat.

Store after store – I browsed and I bought.

I scanned bar codes to ensure prices were as great as I thought.

3 mochas & four hours later, I was tired and done.

The shopping was turning out to be more of a job than fun.

I collected my bags, and drove off on my way.

Bye Macy’s, Bye Nordstrom, I’ll see you online Cyber Monday…

To finish my shopping from home or from work.

Or anytime really – that’s the online perk!