Save with Power Shopping Tools – Your Guide to Buying Online
If you want to shop like a pro, you’ve got to stay ahead of the pack. That means keeping track of retailer reputations, being aware of current deals going on, and knowing ahead of time about any limited-time offers making their way around the web.Â
This can be hard if you’re new to shopping online. Fortunately retailers and resellers are coming up with new and improved ways to keep their fans informed of everything they’ve got going on, and for the fans… finding information and taking advantage of limited offers is becoming easier than ever.
That said, I’ve put together several ways you can do just that, and become the power shopper and deal finder all of your friends envy.
Power Shopper Tool #1: RSS Feeds
In keeping with the times, most coupon directories and merchant rating communities utilize a blog. On the blog they’ll usually post the best deals they’ve got going on, either weekly, daily, or monthly. You can subscribe to their RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, and be able to quickly glance and see if there are any new updates or deals going on.
PRO
RSS is great because you can keep your subscriptions organized based on personal preferences or even categories. Plus your inbox isn’t flooded with mail on a regular basis.Â
CON
The problem is you actually have to remember to check your RSS reader for updates. It’s not something you’ll know has been updated unless you make a point to know it’s been updated. But if you’re already in the habit of checking it regularly, RSS could be the better option for you. Just remember that some feed readers can be a pain and limit your space and that will depend entirely on which reader happens to be your favorite. I like to just make things easy and use Google Reader for all of my RSS subscriptions.
Power Shopper Method #2: Email
If they’re a savvy online retailer, it’s a sure bet they offer their customers some sort of newsletter subscription set-up as a way to keep their people updated on what’s new and what kind of deals they’ve got going on. You as a savvy shopper can opt to sign-up for that newsletter!
PRO
The plus side is you’ll likely never miss any cool deals or hot offers. They’ll all be delivered straight to your inbox. And the best part is you likely already check your email regularly, so there is no extra brain power required to remember to check it.
CON
An avalanche of email is a decided turn-off. And the more subscriptions you rack up, the more emails you receive, thinking you may find something useful in the updates. The problem is you’re usually peppered with a lot of additional email offers and ads you probably didn’t ask for, and never agreed to receive. Needless to say those emails rack up and it can seem like you’re facing Mount Everest when you attempt to wade through them all.
For sanity’s sake, I’d suggest being a bit selective in choosing which services you subscribe to via email. Choose services that allow you to choose how often you receive email from them, or that perhaps only send out alerts once a week.Â
Email Watch Lists
Other services even allow things called watch lists, where you can monitor individual products for pricing and availability. A few that come to mind are BeatThat, Ebay, and PriceGrabber.
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You pretty much run the show with what you want to keep track of. No hot deal will get missed when you create a watch list for a product you’re drooling over. For example you can create an alert to let you know when your product drops at or below a particular price point you’re looking to pay.
CON
As with any email update service, even watch lists can flood your inbox. If you don’t mind all those updates then you’re golden. And remember you can usually control just how many messages you’re willing to receive, so it’s not too bad!
Power Shopper Method #3: Twitter
We already know Twitter is a killer networking tool. Its growth has been explosive. While all of its power and potential has yet to be tapped, there is no question that it’s a veritable gold mine of limited offers, discounts, and deals from both small businesses and large, trusted corporations alike.
Try searching Twitter for “Dell Deals”, for example and see how many great offers you can tam into:
PRO
Because of its explosive growth, tracking offers on Twitter is arguably the most personally customizable option available to you. With the myriad of Twitter clients out there, you can literally get deals and offers sent straight to your mobile, your desktop, Google Talk, your browser, etc… darn near anywhere!
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If you’re not already Twitter savvy, it can be a bit overwhelming. But it’s time well spent to overcome the learning curve and choosing the Twitter client that’s right for you. And if you’re on the other side of the rainbow and utilize Twitter quite a bit… there is no possible way for you to keep track of the updates of every single merchant you want to follow. The Twitter timeline simply moves way too fast!
Power Shopper Method 4: Browser Alerts
This is mostly applicable to FireFox browser users. But there are FireFox extension that are created by some shopping sources that are designed to give you the heads up when you visit a retailers site, such as PriceAdvance’s add-on that displays pricing from other retailers for the product you’re currently viewing.
PRO
You only receive one alert, which is sent when you visit the online retailer’s site. That means you don’t have to deal with a mountain of email or unnecessary interruptions.
CON
Unfortunately updates can be limited. If you try and shop at an online retailer that hasn’t been included in the addon provider’s database, you won’t get to see any deals or comparisons.
Which Method is the Best?
There’s really no right or wrong answer. It pretty much boils down to personal preference and what appeals to you the most, what you need to know, and when you need to know it.
But there are some things that are definitively not agreeable, and that includes:
- Adding more FireFox extensions. If you’re anything like me, it’s likely you’ve got plenty already and it just slows down your browser performance.
- Following more Tweeps, as again… you’re likely already following quite a bit and it becomes ridiculously hard to keep up with what you’ve got, let alone more.
- Receiving a gazillion emails daily. That’s depressing, not to mention distracting!
- Subscribing to more RSS feeds… there are only so many hours in a day, and only so many RSS feeds you can realistically read.
The smart way to go about streamlining your whole shopping process is to first control yourself. You have a choice and you can choose to rely on a handful of valuable resources like the ones listed above until you are convinced any new ones are worthwhile… Or you can choose to subscribe to everything under the sun and be on the fast track to burn out trying to keep up with everything.
You can also be sure to only use service that allow customizations on how often you hear from them and receive their updates, or take advantage of new hacks that lead to better solutions. For example Seesmic allows you to monitor more than one Twitter account at once. That means you can create a separate account that is just for hunting up bargains, and close it up once you no longer need it.Â
So how about you? Like to receive your updates via email? RSS? Some other shopping tool I’ve yet to discover? Share the methods YOU use in the comments below, I’d love to hear them.
This is a guest post by Annie Wallace, a viral mom and social media maven.
