Our Christmas Online Shopping Picks

It’s Christmas and we all want to know where to buy what online that’s uniquely Caribbean. For some that means sauces, jams, jellies and coffee and for others, it’s anything but. We scoured about 100 quality Caribbean shopping sites to give our picks for this season.

BEST IDEA FOR A SITE–Islandgems.com – This is a site where you can buy gemstone jewelry. While it only has a passable site design, it makes up for it in its range of quality product offering and information rich pages that helps the consumer to make choices.

BEST CUSTOMER BUYING EXPERIENCE–Banyancreations.com – A little bit over a year online, the site offers gourmet candles with names such as Caribbean vibes, coco pineapple and island dreams in addition to bath and body care products from the boutique manufacturing company. – www.island1stop.com – One of the better sites to shop for the jams, jellies, sauces,jerk seasonings and coffee. Easy to use, design is pretty good, well laid out….good shopping experience.- camarosacoffee.com – of all the coffee selling sites out of the Caribbean, this is the best designed site we’ve come across that gets the coffee buying customer. Well laid out, information rich and ease of use makes it a pretty decent buying experience.

MOST UNIQUE PRODUCTS–Sprawltees.com – this site is the home of one of the most web savvy t-shirt sellers out of Jamaica. They get online branding and it helps that they have a unique range of quality Jamaican t-shirts. –www.flyasiclothing.com- We liked this site because while its range is not extensive, it’s smart in its offering.- Ethiopiantaste.com – African Caribbean and rasta merchandise. Need we say more.- www.islegifts.com- In addition to the usual sauces,jams and jellies, it adds art and paintings, home and garden stuff, sculptures and carvings, Jamaican games like dominoes gift. Well designed site clearly understanding how an online shopping site must appeal to the online buyer.

BEST GROCERY SHOPPING–Buygracefoods.com – Buygracefoods.com is a partnership between Grace, Kennedy & Company Ltd. and Tortuga Imports Ltd., operators of the Tortuga Rums website. Smart, smart, smart. Talk about going after the Jamaican and Caribbean Diaspora market where the Grace brand is super strong.- Superplusfoodstore.com– This site offers comprehensive product offerings and great prices just like its brick and mortar stores, but man does the site suck in terms of design. Another place where the Jamaican Diaspora can shop for their relatives back home.

BEST AUCTION SITE Jamdeal.com

BEEN THERE DONE THAT– Caribbean Connoisseur– From cigars, blue mountain coffee, hot sauces, jerk seasonings, rum cakes, perfumes, reggae merchandise and much more, all with a Caribbean flair. This is how they’ve pitched their site for years. they definitely are enjoying longevity in the market, but we suggest an update of site design for the new year.- Starfishoils.com – Get your oils, candles, incense products from this company that’s been selling its Jamaican and Caribbean products online for years and they are still at it.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK–Yaadsale.com – a serious contender in the mini Amazon type shop here for all things Jamaican kind of site.What do you think? Tell us your picks.