Save Money With These Digital Shopping Apps

Jordan Rosenfeld
Shutterstock.com
Shutterstock.com

Though you might still get paper coupons in the mail or your regular newspaper, digital apps have made getting a great deal on your shopping so much easier. Not only do shopping apps make it possible to find the best deals without leaving your home, but many stores themselves have their own apps that can alert you to sweet deals on the items you already buy.

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Here are several different kinds of shopping apps to help you keep money in your wallet.

Grocery Apps

First things first, check out whichever store you already shop at to see if they have an app of their own or a loyalty program that offers its members special deals or discounts, particularly on things you buy regularly. Big retailers such as Walmart and Kroger offer grocery apps that you can take advantage of, according to Ready Set Eat, and drugstore chains like CVS do the same.

Apps That Give Cash Back

With some apps, you not only get access to deals and discounts, you can earn cash back when you purchase groceries. Apps that do this include Ibotta and Checkout 51, according to Ready Set Eat. They point out that the average cost of groceries for a family of four weighs in at a hefty $5,000 per year (and a lot more depending on where you live and shop). Cash back can certainly make a dent in recovering some of that expense.

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The Krazy Coupon Lady

If you want to stay ahead of great deals on products you regularly purchase, check out the Krazy Coupon Lady app, according to U.S. News. You can set up personalized alerts that will notify you about products and brands you regularly purchase, and offer coupons and other promotions. It also offers shopping tips and a shopping list feature that allows you to make a list of the deals you want to shop in a given store.

Flipp

Flipp is a free app that gives you access to more than 2,000 stores’ weekly sales flyers, according to Money Crashers. You can link coupons to your individual loyalty cards and build shopping lists as well as deal watch lists. Though it’s geared toward grocery items, you can also find non-grocery stores, such as department stores and hardware stores through the app. Even better, you can sync your shopping lists to multiple devices.

RetailMeNot

Though this app started out as a website to help people search up coupon codes, it now offers a browser extension and an app as well. According to Retail Dive, the app is designed in such a way to help consumers find and access retail and restaurant deals in the areas they spend most of their time, but which they might not be aware of.

“Shoppers don’t always have the time to hunt down promo codes and offers, especially with items selling out quickly,” Kristin McGrath, shopping expert for RetailMeNot told U.S. News. “The RetailMeNot Deal Finder applies the best discounts and cash back offers for your favorite retailers automatically at checkout so you don’t have to.”

Honey

If you don’t necessarily have a specific place you like to shop, the app and browser extension Honey finds coupon codes around the web so that you can get the lowest price. If you use it on Amazon, it will notify you if your item is cheaper at another seller. You can opt to receive notifications about products whose price goes down.

In addition, Honey has a level known as Honey Gold that offers rewards that can be redeemed for either gift cards or cash into a PayPal account. Since the app does not collect your personal or financial info, it’s a low security risk.

Ibotta

Ibotta is another app that also offers a desktop browsing extension. It allows shoppers to earn cash back on your purchases. This app may take a little more active participation, requiring you to look for deals and manually ad them to your account. Offers can vary widely, being either brand specific or generic. You can search over 2,000 retailers, including grocery stores, airlines and other travel providers and more. You can also link Ibotta to existing loyalty cards.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Save Money With These Digital Shopping Apps