www.costcotravel.com

Costcotravel.com: your travel cum shopping assistant

Costcotravel.com is a site which has quite a lot of options for the traveler as well as the shopper. The homepage might appear a bit too cluttered for the first time visitor. However, the pages which the links open into are done well with colorful pictures accompanying each title. There are about four rows of options on the top of the page. The two shopping bars have these options-appliances, auto, baby, health, bed and bath, computers, décor and much more.

Each of these options opens into exclusive pages by themselves. The options available will appear as you point the cursor over each category. In ‘Appliances', for example, floor care and vacuums, sewing machines and garment care, wine cellars and beer coolers etc. are the options. If you click on the category, options like ‘featured items,' and ‘featured categories' will appear where the products are listed with their pictures alongside the prices. You can again refine these categories, for example, under appliances; you can find wine cellars, beer cooler etc. These are again categorized according to the brand and again according to the price, the size or capacity, color as well as product finish.

These options are available for every item. ‘Instruments' will take you to a page where musical instruments and other related equipment are listed according to category, price etc. Under ‘pianos' you can find the models listed-digital pianos, grand pianos, petite grand pianos, player pianos, digital keyboards and the brands- Casio, Suzuki, Yamaha etc. You can add the products you like to the ‘cart' or to the ‘list.' The prices of the product as well as the shipping details are given here.

Under services, you will a range of options from ‘auto and home' and ‘real estate' to ‘financial', ‘health and dental' and ‘small business.' Click on ‘insurance' for example, and you will reach a page where the various options in the insurance section are given-Auto and home insurance, individual and family health insurance etc. Click on any one of these options and you will get a free online quote. A phone number will also be provided with the hours of operation.

Under ‘pharmacy' you can see - what's new, ODI, pricing information, drug information, etc. These links however take you to completely different sites. In photo centre, you can order your prints or upload them once you register as a member. Registering here is easy; all you need to do is enter your name, email address and a password.

Asha Prakash

Hi-Tech Editorial Division