I’m a big fan of shopping online, and I would choose shopping online over shopping instore every single time. I’ve always been quite frugal, and whilst I definitely enjoy buying nice things, I always ensure I save money where possible. When shopping online, it’s easy to save money whereas that’s not always the case when shopping instore. Whenever I’m shopping online, there’s a few things I do prior to purchase to ensure I’m saving as much money as possible so I wanted to share my tips on how to save money when shopping online.
Store Cards
Boots – I am a massive fan of store cards, and I cannot recommend them enough. Many retailers now offer some type of free store card, and I’d recommend signing up to the store cards of your favourite retailers. This is the original beauty loyalty card and I’ve had one since I was 16. The card gives you 4 points for every £1 you spend and Boots regularly have points events where you might earn an extra £10 oft points on £50 spends as an example.
You can redeem online and instore however you have to have enough to cover your whole order. They don’t offer part payment which is really annoying but for a free card, it’s very much worth having. In addition to earning points on your orders, Boots send you vouchers in the post which you can redeem instore to either get money off items or earn bonus points.
I like that they have a really good app where you can load offers onto your card to then redeem instore, as well as seeing special offers too. I always save my Boots points throughout the year to then redeem in November towards Christmas presents and it’s a great fuss free loyalty card.
SpaceNK – Space NK now have two different store cards on offer. The standard card which is for everyone then the Deluxe Card for those that spend £1000+ a year in their stores or on their website.
With the standard card, £1 = 1 point which really isn’t very generous but when you get to 100 points you can cash in for a £5 reward. Points can also be earned by leaving product reviews on their website too. On your birthday you also receive a birthday gift from them and their Deluxe Card gives you early access to their sales but neither cards give you any special shipping fee reductions.
Debenhams – This card gives you three points per £1 you spend on beauty products and includes fragrance and beauty services instore. When you reach 500 points, you’ll have a £5 reward to spend either as full or part payment. The best part in my opinion is free delivery on all beauty orders with the code SHA5, and it’s easy to build up points as their brands are relatively high end. If you’re a Beauty Club cardholder, Debenhams also offer free gifts and events instore too.
Wishlists
Utilise wishlists! Many online retailers have ‘wishlist’ functions where you can add products to your wishlist. I like to add the items I’m wanting to buy to a wishlist and then whenever I notice the store has a sale or discount code, I have the products ready for checkout. Some sites give you the option to turn notifications on, so you can be emailed whenever something in your wishlist goes on sale.
An example where this really helped me was when I need to purchase a replacement lens for my Olympus PEN camera. I knew the lens was going to be a pricey purchase so I had to wait for the Black Friday sales as I wanted to save as much money as possible. As money was tight in the run up to Christmas, I had to look into no credit check loans to bridge the gap for the two weeks until payday so I could get the lens whilst it had 20% off, which ended up saving me a decent amount of money. Sometimes online retailers hide products whenever there’s a sale or discount code on, so by having items in your wishlist you can find the items you want easily.
Cashback Sites
I cannot recommend using cashback sites enough, and it always surprises me when I hear people say they don’t use them when shopping online. There are two main UK cashback sites; Topcashback and Quidco, and once you’ve registered you simply search for your chosen retailer on their website, click their link to your retailer and that’s it – you continue like normal.
By clicking the link on their website, they then add a cookie to log any purchases you make within a set period of time. Using cashback sites is possibly my number one tip on how to save money when shopping online as you’re earning free money for making purchases you already were going to make, and it takes five seconds max. I prefer Topcashback myself, but I now never make an online order without checking Topcashback first and I like to save up my cashback throughout the year to again, put towards Christmas presents.
Discount Codes
Don’t ever place an online order without looking for discount codes first. There are so many different sites offering voucher codes, and promo codes which can potentially save you money on your orders. Whenever I place an order online, I always check for promo codes first and then look for cashback second and it’s now a routine I never forget as using both methods works a treat at saving me money. All you have to do is search “Boots voucher code” or “Nails Inc discount code”, and if there’s any live codes for the retailer, it’ll show up on the first couple of pages of search listings.
Google Shopping
The final of my tips on how to save money when shopping online is utilising Google Shopping. If you were in a shop wanting to buy something, chance is you’ll look for the item with the best price and value, and that’s the same for shopping online. Whenever I want to purchase something, say for example a fragrance I simply Google the product I’m looking for and select the ‘Shopping’ tab within the Google search listings.
This will then show you the prices of the product from many online retailers, including their delivery fees which is so handy. There’s no point paying £1 less for a product from a store, to then discover their delivery fees are £5 so I find Google Shopping really handy when I know the specific item I’m looking for.
I really hope my tips on how to save money when shopping online were helpful..
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