My 5 Shopping Strategies for Online Savings

Shopping online has been the craze the past few years. Every retail store better have an online presence if they want to keep up with their competitors. Black Friday used to only be at brick and mortar locations. Now it’s the retailer missing out if they don’t offer sales online too. This is a huge benefit for us, the shoppers, when we use online savings.

Sure, there’s more to it than just browsing their online stores. It’s a money myth that you don’t have to do a thing. Online savings like regular savings don’t come that easy. You have to do some research on your own. If you don’t you’ll be lost browsing for hours. You’ll also potential fall trap to the pitfall of clicking on everything you see. They make those banner ads all colorful and enticing. The same way McDonald’s pictures aren’t taken of real food. No wonder they’re able to bamboozle me into getting their McNuggets with bbq sauce. Doesn’t matter that I know they’re made out of pink slime.

I’m not a big shopper but that doesn’t remove the need for me to buy clothes every now and then. Work requires me to wear a certain level of professional attire. I like to wear comfortable work out clothes for fitness. My socks don’t last years like they did when I was a teen. If I could though, I’d push the shopping as far back as I can. So this is what I do to get that online savings (good for my golden years) and not have to run to the mall every time I spill BBQ sauce on my shirt.

1) Know Your Size

For work clothes I shop at Nordstrom, Express, Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger and you know what they all have in common? Sales! Both for in-store and online savings. What I do is I go and get my size for pants, shirts, shoes and any other item and save that info like the world is trying to steal it from me. Now I know my size and can buy it online without trying it on. This saves me from having to drive to the mall and braving the masses. I can do my online savings at any time of the day or night with no pressure to hurry up.

2) Sign Up for Online Savings with email

I also sign up for their email newsletter and promotions. I get online savings through coupons that sometimes are only offered online. I go to their website and make my purchase. For Hanes t-shirts I know my size so all I have to do is go to Amazon and make my 1-click order, just remember to check for an Amazon Canada promo code prior to ordering.

3) Use the Return Policy

All the brick and mortar retail stores offer return policies. Sometimes I’ll see a buy 2 and get the 2nd item half off. So I’ll try out a different color then I normally get. If it doesn’t look good then I return it. Exclusively online stores offer returns to but it’s normally more of a hassle than I’m willing to adventure into.

4) Compare Prices for Online Savings

There used to be a time where online stores were far and between. Now it’s a different story. When a store says they’ll price match this usually means online prices too. Online savings are everywhere you just have to look. Google works wonders! If you copy the item’s name and Google it you’ll find all prices and sites for comparison.

5) Online Coupon Websites

Like regular stores there are also online coupons you should know about. Sometimes you can use these online coupons in addition to the online store’s sale. You don’t always have to sign up by email to get them. There are sites exclusively for coupon codes provided by other interneters. Take advantage of it!

Photo by Frankie Roberto