So far, the holiday season has been busy for online retailers, as consumers bought more than $925 million in merchandise online during Thanksgiving alone. Then, when they went back to work the following Monday, they spent another $485 million online -- on a day becoming known as "Cyber Monday."

The impact of the Internet goes way beyond purchasing online. According to a January report by comScore Networks, 34 percent of shoppers say they look on the Web first before buying in a store.

In essence, they're taking advantage of the wealth of information to make better buying decisions. But what if you're already in the store with the item you want staring you in the face? Should you pick it up and take it to the cashier? Or should you wait to buy it online at a better price?

For many of us, that depends on how much better the price would be online. If it's only a buck or two, it may not be worth waiting. But if you can save $50 ... or $100? That's worth waiting for.

Smarter.com wants to make it easier for you to make those decisions on the spot. The Web site, which is known to most people as a shopping engine -- a resource to comparison shop online for the best prices -- can put the online price at your fingertips in the store. All you need is a cell phone that can do text messaging.

Let's say you've found a microwave oven that you like, but you're not sure of the price. Pull out your cell phone, type a text message telling the manufacturer's name and model number or product code; then send it to 610-SMARTER (610-762-7837).

Within a few minutes, you'll receive a text message back, telling you the lowest price that Smarter.com found on the net. If it's much lower than what you see on the shelf, it may be worth a trip home to find the item online using the full version of Smarter.com.

The key is to select items that are likely to be sold online, and to put in as much information as you can to differentiate the product from all others. If you only type "Microwave Oven," Smarter.com won't know which oven to compare and won't give you a good result. But if you type "Sharp R510HK," you're more likely to get the proper result.

There are, as in most online services, a couple catches. First, while most recent cell phones are able to send and receive text messages, older models may not.

Next, you must have cell phone service available in the store. Unfortunately, I've found that a lot of steel and concrete buildings absorb cell phone signals. So if you don't get a signal standing in front of the shelf, write down the make and model, then move to another part of the store where you can find a signal -- or even outside if that's the only place you can use your cell phone.

Finally, while the Smarter.com service is free, your cell service provider might charge you for the text messages. Normally, though, this will be either very cheap (10 to 20 cents) or included in your plan.

If you decide to go home to shop for a bigger bargain, don't forget to look for a coupon to save you even more money. Smarter.com lists coupons on its own Web site, as well as on a related Web site, CouponMountain.com.