According to research, e-commerce sales totaled over $450 billion in 2017 and that number has been growing 15%-17% annually since 2015.
That number shouldn’t surprise anyone. We’re all addicted to buying stuff online to some extent.
The convenience of shopping online is hard to beat. And with a little knowledge, you can also score the best price.
Here are 5 clever shopping tips to help you keep more money in your pocket.
5 Online Shopping Tips To Help You Save
Here’s how to buy things online for the best price and very little effort. These amounts you save can add up to big savings over time.
Whether you are shopping for vacation packages or everyday items online, you can save a lot by utilizing the following tips.
1. Promotion Coupons and Codes
The word “coupons” conjures up images of newspapers sprawled across the floor as you cut coupons. Or you remember standing in line at the grocery store for 15 minutes behind someone using a “War and Peace” sized book of coupons.
Thankfully, modern coupons don’t work that way. You just enter a promo code at the checkout page of your favorite e-commerce site.
Get in the habit of searching for coupons and promo codes before you buy. You can find codes for almost anything at sites such as RetailMeNot and Coupon Codes.
These coupon codes are good at major retailers such as Target, Sears, Macy’s and Walmart.
If you have a specific store you like to shop at, Promotioncodesfor.com is a very useful tool. Just enter the name of the store and you’ll see all the promotions available for that outlet.
For example, searches for retailers Gymshark & Boohoo returned significant savings.
2. Outsmart Dynamic Pricing
Here’s a little-known shopping tip involving something called dynamic pricing.
Dynamic pricing is when a retailer does not offer a fixed price.
When you buy airline tickets, the price today may be different than the price tomorrow. That’s dynamic pricing in action.
But did you know, many online businesses, including airlines, will show you one price and someone else a much lower price?
In short, deep data has become big business. Companies are using past purchases, browsing history, and even your social media accounts to determine your exact price point.
So what can you do?
Turn the process on its ear and use their technology against them.
To get the best price offers online:
- Log out of your email and social media accounts
- Clear your browsing history and cookies
- Browse in incognito mode
- Select less developed countries as your home in price queries
These are ways to get the best available price quote and avoid the dynamic pricing trap.
3. Walk Away
Another way to use technology in your favor is to simply walk away from a purchase.
Put the purchase in your cart, go to the checkout, and then go make a sandwich. Or binge-watch Thrones.
It doesn’t matter what you do, the point is to walk away. More often than not, the company will contact you.
Sometime’s they’ll send you a friendly email. Often times, they will pop up a chat window on your shopping cart.
Either way, they’ll usually ask you why you haven’t made your purchase and offer your an extra coupon code. If they don’t make that offer, ask them for a better price.
You will be surprised at how many companies offer additional savings to close the deal.
4. Honey Shopping Hack
The beauty of this shopping hack lies in its simplicity.
Just install a web plug-in called Honey. Then go on about your day.
Whenever you are shopping online and you get to the checkout, Honey will show you if there is a cheaper option. Or it will input codes or even stack promo codes when they are available.
Honey delivers instant and effortless savings. What could be better than that (ok, besides free)?
5. Deal Squad
Have you ever told a friend about something you want to buy and they tell you exactly where you can find that very item at the lowest price?
Deal Squad is that friend.
Here’s the process:
- Go to Deal Squad
- Enter the URL of the item you’re about to purchase
- Deal Squad’s team of investigators will scour the internet and find you the best possible deal
It’s a free service and requires almost no effort on your part.
Maximizing Shopping Tips for Big Savings
Make it a habit to use these tools to save money.
Even better, stack these shopping tips together to achieve even more benefits.
If this article was helpful, check out our other shopping content for more tips and hacks.
