Online shopping is tops for convenience, but what about those times when you crave personal attention or even a more manageable way of sifting through the avalanche of online offerings? Turn to the virtual personal shopper. Shop It to Me starts you off by asking you to zip through checklists to specify your interests by designer, size, type of garment, etc. (I had great fun checking Armani, BCBG Max Azria, Prada, Eileen Fisher, etc.) Once signed up, you’ll receive daily e-mail alerts tailored to your choices whenever they show up on sale or discounted –– it’s almost as if your personal store arrives in your inbox every day! At ShopStyle, you can create your own stylebook for almost any brand of clothing, shoes, accessories and cosmetics, build your gift registry and share your stylebook with friends or groups; I saved this purple Norma Kamali dress (pictured) from Nordstrom for $395 in my favorites. You can even set price alerts to receive notifications when the price drops on certain items. At Personal Shopper, once you sign up and fill out a survey of your preferences, you can search for everything from clothes to home décor and sort by price, discounts, stores and brands. StyleFeeder operates in a similar vein, with the difference being that you can rate items brought to your attention and over time, StyleFeeder will be more selective about what is sent to you. You can also “grab” things from other sites to build a personal wishlist and track items of interest. One word of caution: If you thought going to the mall could take all day, these sites can take just as long –– clicking through the array of offerings can be downright addictive! If you’d like the more personal touch, you can select a shopping expert from the list at LivePersonalShoppers for advice and guidance through live chats or e-mail for a small fee per minute, payable through your account with LivePersonalShoppers. Retailers with personal shopping options include Shade Clothing (which will send notices about special promotions and sales and offers 5 percent discounts on orders placed through your personal shopper) and that grande dame of department stores Neiman Marcus.