How To Shop Online to Save Money At the Stores

With the advent of the Internet, a lot has changed over the years and if you have been following the trends recently – online businesses are booming, more than ever. Thanks to the decreasing disposable income, more and more people want to save money while shopping and that’s good for you because the Internet makes a lot of things just that much easier. So, how do you check for great prices online?

1. Price Vs Time for Research must be proportional: The thumb rule is that the amount of time you spend on researching or “window-Shopping” online, for whatever it is that you are looking for, should be proportional. That means that you’d spend a lot of time researching for information and best prices online for expensive and one-off purchases – like a house, other property, cars, etc.
2. You don’t have to jump and click – delaying your purchase is recommended: According to a report on ecommercetimes.com, buying behavior of consumers has been changing rapidly over the last few years and it is not uncommon for consumers to research but not click on the shopping-cart buttons. According to the ecommercetimes.com: “The average time delay between a consumer’s first visit to a Web site and the first purchase was just over 19 hours. About 35 percent of all tracked shoppers took more than 12 hours to make a buy decision, while 21 percent took more than three days, with 14 percent taking more than one week to decide where to buy”. Even if it weren’t for these trends, it really makes sense to delay the purchase for a while and prevent yourself from buying anything for a week or so. If the longing wears off, it would have been an impulse. If it doesn’t, it’s a need.
3. Look for Online Exclusives for off line Stores: If your favorite mall or neighbouring store has a website, do ensure to sign-up for their newsletter( if any) or keep visiting the website( at least for a few weeks before you buy anything) to check for offers and exclusives. A website is the easiest and a cost-effective way for the merchant to showcase his offers and these might not be found on partner websites, price-grabbers or price-comparison websites.
4. Just price-comparision sites won’t do, compare the price-comparision sites: It’s called the “Land-Slide Effect”. Instead of just relying one price-comparision website and take a decision – do a search for the item you are looking to buy on a price-comparision website and then do a similar search for the same item on most other famous price-comparision stores. The results are bound to be different and you will do well to pick the lowest-price for the same item.
5. Don’t forget the coupons: We sometimes forget that some retailers release discount coupons which allow rebates, discounts and savings on purchases. Your research won’t be complete until you also do a search online for any recent coupons released which you can use for shaving off that price a little more.