The following is guest contributed post by Deidre Bakker-Riches, owner of a boutique marketing firm and consultancy, Twlv31 Marketing, and the Head of Communications for Las Vegas advertising agency, Up All Day Creative Solutions (originally published by Mobile Leaders Alliance).
With the holidays just around the corner, we are all looking for ways to save us time, and more importantly, money when it comes to finding the perfect gifts. Fortunately, with all of the great advances in mobile technology, we are no longer required to wait in those excruciatingly long lines on Black Friday in order to find a good deal. From organization, budgeting, coupons, price comparison and more, here are seven great apps to help you become a savvy shopper this holiday season:
Rated a “Top 10 Must Have App for your iPhone” by the New York Times, RedLaser by eBay helps you find the best prices, coupons and deals for all your favorite products both online and in-stores. The app lets you search their database of millions of products, stores, and deals to help compare prices and reviews. If you are visiting the store in person, the app provides all the information you need, such as location, hours, coupons, and sales. You can create shopping lists directly in the app and then quickly share with your family and friends. Lastly, you can scan and store your loyalty cards so you don’t need to worry about bringing them along with you.
RedLaser is available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
ShopAdvisor
For the astute bargain shopper, ShopAdvisor watches prices for 200M+ products from more than 16,000 retailers and then alerts you of the best time to make a purchase based on your price preferences. The app can also tell you where to find items both online and in-stores, provide product recommendations, and can scan and locate items in-stores and in magazines.
ShopAdvisor is available on iOS and Android.
ShopSavvy
Like ShopAdvisor, ShopSavvy helps you find the best sales from your favorite stores. You can tell the app what products you are searching for and then it will track those products and alert you when there is a sale or discount available. You can also browse sales from the top retailers, scan items to find the lowest prices, price match while shopping in-stores, and receive daily and weekly deals from your favorite retailers.
ShopSavvy is available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
PriceGrabber
PriceGrabber lets quickly find the lowest price on millions of products from thousands of online merchants and local stores. You can search online stores for deals, as well as compare in-store vs. online prices using a barcode scanner. In addition, you can sort by price, rating or popularity, set price alerts and receive notifications, see complete pricing details with tax and shipping, and bookmark your favorite items so you can check back later.
PriceGrabber is available on iOS and Android.
Pounce
If you’re a more of a magazine or newspaper shopper, Pounce lets you scan images in print ads with a iPhone, iPad or Android camera, then you’ll immediately see similar items from a variety of stores. Once you find what you are looking for, simply tap the Buy Now button, enter your credit card information (which Pounce does not store) and then your purchase is processed and shipped directly by the retailer.
Pounce is available on iOS and Android.
Santa’s Bag
Santa’s Bag is great for organizing and budgeting your holiday shopping lists. The app allows you to import your recipients, and then you can map out your budget and gifts for each recipient, create your shopping and wish lists, share your lists, and more. The app is free, but ad-supported. If you prefer, you can do an in-app upgrade for $3 and you will get extra features, like Dropbox backups and the ability to archive gifts from past years.
Santa’s Bag is available on iOS.
GiftPlanner
Like Santa’s Bag, GiftPlanner lets you organize and keep track of your gift lists, budgets and events — but this app covers all holidays as well as birthdays. Some other great features include:
- A Safari bookmarklet feature that allows you to quickly add gifts to your gift list while surfing online
- You can scan barcodes using your device’s camera to quickly fill in product information
- It’s easy to sort your gift list by event, date, store, people, price, or status to keep organized
- You can export printable gift lists that you can use as your shopping lists or checklists
- Best part, you can send gift cards directly from the app via email or text
GiftPlanner is available on iOS.
With the wonderful world of mobile technology, there’s no need to dread your holiday shopping this year. Simply download one or all of these time and money-saving apps to help you de-stress and make your holidays is little more joyful.
