Everything is online these days. No wonder shopping has become popular and people love it since it avoids long lines and saves time. The best part is finding that online coupon to save money when shopping online and seeing it work right away all in the comfort of your own home, coffee shop, or train!
It is good for businesses and easy to find deals and shop around for customers like you and me. Each individual in the US generates a revenue of around $1800 doing online shopping. It is all good for the economy and more importantly, good for businesses. While online shopping provides easy and fast access to products, every one of us wants to get that deal that can bring some smiles.
Let us get to know some of the best ways to save money while you do shopping online.
Save even more! Walmart discount on gas – Here’s how you can get it.
How to save money when shopping online?
Let’s look at the 7 smart ways you can save money when you do online shopping.
1) Coupons and promo codes
I bet you are tempted to google for coupons. When I shop at Target for say, a console table, I do a “Target console table coupon” or something similar. If you are lucky, you will click on a link that gets you a coupon discount.
How many of us get upset when we click a coupon and it takes us to a spam site that is full of unrelated content? Or does it take you to a coupon and you use that coupon only to find that it expired, or it did not work?
But there is this browser toolbar extension called Honey that shows you coupons automatically when you are at the checkout at the end of your online shopping. Read my review of the Honey app.
Check this post on Best Cashback Apps for Shopping, Dining, and Travel.
2) Buying online at the right time
When it comes to online shopping, timing is everything. Do you begin shopping a few days before Thanksgiving or Christmas? Do you go online and buy only when you see a sale?
Now, stop doing that and tell to yourself, “Sales happen all the time”. Yes, no matter what season it is, there is always a sale going on online. All you need to do is do some planning. For example, do you need winter clothes? Buy those during the end of winter or during summer when prices are dropped or discounted just because stores want to get rid of their stock and replenish it for the upcoming year.
The same tip applies to any online shopping whether you are buying clothes flight tickets or hotel rooms. Plan and buy ahead of time and you will save a ton of money.
3) Use online comparison tools and save money
Another comfort of shopping online is that you can take advantage of comparison tools. These are the sites that go and get quotes from various companies, which you can use to compare and see which suits you. For example, if you are shopping for car insurance, use comparison sites such as Gabi, which get quotes from many insurance companies so you can compare prices and get the best price for your car situation.
Did you know? Capital One browser extension can save you money when you shop at popular online stores.
4) Use cashback apps and save when shopping online
Thousands of apps save you money when shopping online. Some ask you to upload receipts and give points you can redeem for gift cards or cash. There is even an app that saves you money on groceries. There are top cashback apps for groceries.
5) Avoid sneaky traps and tricks
These days online shopping has become even more intrusive – not in a bad way, but you should understand, as a customer, so that you get relevant product recommendations and offers. This is what people call browser cookies, that little information your browser stores whenever you shop a site. When you return to the same site again, you see relevant offers.
Ever wondered how sites know what you purchased from another site or read a product review page from a different site? Always shop in incognito or private browser mode. This ensures that you get to see the online sites as a new customer and new customers are always offered a discount to retain you so you come back for more shopping.
6) Buy it when it drops to a low price
If you shop on Amazon.com regularly, use sites like CamelCamelCamel which alerts you when the price of your favorite item drops to lower price.
7) Add items to the cart and leave them there
Do your shopping next time as a logged-in customer but don’t buy them immediately. Leave the items there in the cart. Come back after a day or two and check your emails. Companies like Macy’s and Target in most cases send you an email giving you a discount or a free shipping or reduced price offer. So, check your email or text message for any offers for items that you left in your cart. This way you get good savings when you pay a little patience in return.
Conclusion:
These smart ways save you 10 to 20 % – at least that is very true in my experience. Whether you are buying a pizza or that precious gift for your loved one, you deserve a discount – and that is now possible when you take note of these smart ways to shop online.
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