8 Online Shopping Hacks To Guarantee Holiday Savings

2 min read

‘Tis the season for online shopping! Halloween has come and gone and the holidays are already in our sights..and our inboxes, our mail boxes and our social media feeds. Retailers have been gearing up for massive amounts of online orders for months now and consumers are starting to kick it into high gear by making holiday purchases. 

The National Retail Federation conducted their annual survey to gain insights on this year’s holiday shopping season which is anything but ordinary. Not surprisingly, they found that “a record number of shoppers — 60 percent — said they planned to shop online in 2020..up from 56 percent last year and the highest in the survey’s 17-year history.” Consumers have become wildly reliant and familiar with the concept that is online shopping since this year’s pandemic and that is not going to change with holiday shopping. Many consumers started their holiday shopping back in October, which is actually recommended by Amazon to try and ease shipping delays. 

If you’re planning on online shopping for the holidays or are already in the midst of it, we’ve rounded up some tips and tricks from fellow consumers (yay for helping each other save money!) to help your holiday shopping pack a punch without leaving the bank dry. 

First up- Retailmenot is MUST!

This Google Chrome extension can be added onto your browser so whenever you’re ready to checkout, the extension works its magic to find any coupon codes or promotions which it then automatically applies to your cart. All the savings without all the trail and error of manually typing in coupon codes. 

Keep your shopping bag full and take a peak at your email inbox.

After you’ve added items to your cart, leave them there for a day or two and check your email to see if the retailer has sent you any discount codes for those items. They keep an eye on your shopping cart and since they WANT you to hit that submit order button, they’ll send codes in your email to persuade you even further. 

Camelcamelcamel is king.

Although Retailmenot unfortunately is not compatible with Amazon, Camelcamelcamel allows you to track the price history of ANY Amazon product so you can tell whether you’re getting a good deal or not. They’ll even alert you when the price of a particular product has dropped so you’re ready to go when the time comes to save!

Get all the savings, without a full inbox by using Milled.

Milled is a search engine that compiles thousands of deals and promo codes from retailers that you would typically find in their email newsletter. That way you can grab the coupon codes without subscribing to a daily newsletter. Less clutter and more savings sound good to us!

Know a college student who’s willing to share?

Unidays is a college-student-only site and app that gathers student discount codes from various retailers to help college kids save money. All you need to do is join the retailers page and the code becomes available to use. Most of the codes are at least 10% off. You may or may not technically be the student, but the retailer doesn’t have to know that!

Take advantage of Cyber Monday steals.

Some say it’s best to hold off on purchasing high-end brand items from places like Nordstrom for Cyber Monday because the shopping holiday is when their deals really shine. Nordstrom already has a page of previews to showcase their deals: Nordstrom Black Friday Deals Preview (deals start November 20th so mark your calendar!) 

Order one at a time..and wait for savings.

If you know you’ll be making multiple purchases from the same retailer, buy one piece and then wait. Why? Chances are, they’ll thank you for your order by sending a coupon in the mail to use on your next purchase. For example, after purchasing an item from LLBean, they’ll send you a $10 coupon that you can use towards your next item. For higher-end retailers, this tip is a must.  

Purchase all year long!

This tip may have been helpful a few months ago, but better late than never! My mom always says, if you’re shopping along and see something that you want for a holiday gift- buy it! If you make a mental note to buy it later, you’ll probably forget and by the time the holidays roll around it more than likely will be gone. Grab it and store it away somewhere you’ll remember so when they holidays do come, you can be proud that you’re ahead of the game.

Don’t be blind to retail schemes.

Retailers are notorious for digging into the consumer mind and discovering ways to encourage consumers to spend more money- especially without them realizing it and especially during the holidays AKA peak retail season. Find out what tactics retailers use to get you to purchase MORE than you probably need in our post here: Sneaky Ways Retailers Make You Spend More During the Holidays.

Happy online shopping and hooray to the start of the holiday season!

Do you have any online shopping tips that you swear by? Let us know in the comments!

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