During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing made online shopping popular among customers. A survey was conducted in China, Italy, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, and Turkey. Results from the survey show that 50% of consumers are shopping online. Even after the pandemic, customers find online shopping more convenient than fitting visits to malls and stores into their busy schedules.
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But the increasing trend of online shopping comes with challenges. Online stores generally try to persuade you to spend more money than you might have originally planned. When you add an item to your cart, you may see a tab for “items you might enjoy”, at which point, we start adding items to the cart that we don’t really need.
In this article, we will share a few practical ways to save money and time while shopping online.
Compare Prices
There are many e-commerce websites, and every retailer sells its products at different prices. Some may have your desired product on sale. It’s great to search a few retail stores and compare their prices before placing an order. You can take advantage of price comparison websites like Priceblink, Honey, and many more. You can add these third-party plugins to the browser. When you search for a product, you will get all related retailer stores with their pricing. You can choose a store which offers you low prices and fast delivery services.
If you are a regular customer of one big store like Amazon or eBay, it is good advice to search other retailers also. Amazon offers convenient shipping and fast delivery, but the prices of some Amazon stores are higher than others. Look out for sales to get the best bang for your buck.
Use of Cashback Tools
Cashback tools are simple to use and provide the benefits of saving money. You can purchase your desired product and get a percentage of your payment back. Shopping online from a single website will help you with saving small amounts of money, and soon, you might be able to get a free product from them. Most websites’ rewards range from 1 to 15%, depending on your cart total. You can also earn money from these websites by playing games and completing surveys.
Offering rewards is their marketing strategy, so you must be careful when using these tools. Online stores constantly send promotional emails and messages, so before you make a purchase, think twice.
Use Discount Gift Cards
A smart way by which you can save and buy within your budget is by using gift cards. Not many people use this as it requires pre-planning and investment. If you shop from the same site most of the time, you must invest in a loyalty card, so you can save big. These cards also help you to stay within your budget. It’s important to remember your card number, so you can apply for another card if you lose it.
Use Credit Card Offers
Credit card companies send promotional emails and discounted offers. Check your inbox or spam folder. Credit cards offer 10 to 15% discounts on electronics and fashion e-commerce websites. These cards also allow cardholders to earn one or more reward points for every dollar spent. Reward credit cards can be used as bonus points for restaurants, groceries, or gas.
Leave Items in Your Shopping Cart
Don’t need a product urgently? Well, this trick will save you money. Retailers have plugins that provide coupons and other discounts on abandoned shopping carts. Go through the store website and add any items that can wait in your shopping cart. Now, the waiting game begins. They will send you a special offer to encourage you to complete your transaction. It convinces customers to place orders, so you can save money by taking advantage of those offers. It’s worth giving it a try if you’re not in a hurry to make your purchase.
Find Coupons Online
Another way to save your money while shopping is to find coupon codes. There are different ways to search for coupons:
- Find coupons on legitimate sites: Search authentic sites like Deal news, Wikibuy, Fetch rewards, etc. Turn on notifications to be notified when there’s a sale.
- Subscribe to newsletters: Some retailers give coupons on subscriptions. Plus, after you join their mailing list, you will receive codes for other promotions and seasonal discounts.
As you can see, there are many effective ways to save money while shopping online. Get coupons and cashback by searching before you place an order. Some of these suggestions will help you the next time you go shopping, and you will see that you are saving more money than ever before.
