Many individuals buy online these days since this has so many advantages. You should look forward to great options, absolute ease, and some great discounts when you go online to make your transactions. You can buy all kinds of items online as well and get them shipped to your door with ease and time.
One of the reasons more people buy online is the opportunity to save money. Most online stores work entirely online, which ensures they have smaller overheads and can carry on customer savings.
Furthermore, many stores give online consumers special discounts and rewards and this makes it much easier to save money.
Create a Shopping List First
A simple tip, but a time-saving one. Decide what to buy in advance so that you can save a lot of time by zeroing in on the perfect price on that brand instead of only scrolling through multiple websites/categories on sales aimlessly.
In your online shopping carts, keep things on your Wishlist. When a price has fallen, you’ll get emails alerting you. Not all stores use price drop warnings, but email marketing is catching on rapidly. Make sure that you have an account on the shopping site and to get updates, keep it signed in with your cart.
Compare Prices for Products
You can search for different price comparison websites or even browser extensions after you have chosen what to purchase, which helps you to compare the prices of goods through major shopping portals. Some also list specifics of any banks/merchants’ extra deals that can help save money while shopping online. Check the cashback options, promo codes, discounts.
During big online deals, most shopping sites have agreements with one or more banks for credit cards or debit cards, such as direct discounts or cashback, or even EMI deals. However, before opting to take advantage of such deals, make sure you always review the terms and conditions:
- A) Upfront discounts (lowering the sales price) are often preferable.
- B) If the cashback is given, verify how long it takes to be credited to you
- C) Verify whether your wallet account with the portal will be paid with cashback instead of your credit/debit card
- D) Variation in discount/cashback value whether orders are placed from their smartphone app or the site.
- E) Verify if more than one bid (discount + cashback) can be combined at the same time.
Points on Your Credit/Debit Card or Wallet, Deals, Cashback, and Loyalty Points
Your bank may have recurring deals, outside of agreements with retail portals, whether you use your credit/debit card for a specified period of more than a certain amount per purchase. This could take the form of coupons, cashback, shopping cards, movie tickets, etc., or even bonus loyalty points.
If payment from their app is made, new wallets and payment applications still keep submitting emails and reminders for deals. Check the Sales section for recent shopping deals in those apps as well.
To get the full benefit when shopping online during a sale, you can also set a mark to keep track of those messages.
Set Alerts for Price
Any online shopping sites have tools that help you compare pricing and set alarms for items you are interested in and will warn you when the amount is met by the price. You may also use applications and browser plugins from third parties for this.
Look for Sales and Festive Discounts
As sales allow you to purchase stuff at discount, you can keep a keen eye on sales. To keep track of upcoming deals on Flipkart, Amazon, and others, you can use websites like KaroBargain. The best time is during the festival season to buy or get deep discounts. As the competition is challenging, people are willing to invest.
Free Shipping is a Perk
Each rupee saved counts while shopping. Check if the item you’re purchasing is shipped free of charge or at a price. Many sites give their premium customers free shipping, while in some ways you can check whether the vendor offers it. This will also mean that a vendor shows a lower selling price but a higher shipping fee, thus canceling any real cost profit.
Test the Shopping Groups Online
There are several dedicated platforms that present offers across sites for shopping and also have interactive forums where users can exchange offers and post product reviews. These can help to get a different perspective, especially if there is an offer that seems too good to be real, or if there is any trap (older edition, discontinued product, etc.).
Make Use of your Social Network and Circle of Friends
Some sites and Twitter accounts post interesting sales all the time if you’re involved on Facebook and Twitter. Also, if the search for a particular product has already been limited, asking for input on social media or among a group of friends will help confirm your preference and they can also recommend better + lower-cost alternatives.
Check Reviews of Products
Even if this is mostly subjective, this is significant, because what works for anyone else could be a deal-breaker for you or vice versa. Besides, on certain shopping pages, there is also the issue of meaningless or false feedback, so read through the feedback carefully to check whether there is a real issue with the product. To get an overall, unbiased review of the product, you can also check other websites that publish reviews online.
“Later, there’ll always be a better offer”
As commodity prices continue to adjust all the time, this may or may not be true. The point is, decide if you want to buy something immediately or can wait, are satisfied with the price, and then go for it. Only because there’s a discount or bid on it, resist the temptation to buy something.
As is always said, “A Rupee Saved is a Rupee Earned” if it is not an impulse purchase. Everyone fights for the wallet share of customers and to stay afloat.
