American retailers say that more than 70% of Americans use coupons while shopping. The strategic shopping is getting more and more popular even with young people who never seemed to spend their time on finding good deals and cutting out coupons as it took a lot of time, attention and patience. Now saving is becoming more available due to coupons, rebates and vouchers you can find online.
Coupons
Aside from traditional ways of distributing coupons through newspapers, magazines and mail, you can find coupons on the Internet. Coupons can be issued by manufacturers or by retailers to be used in retail stores. In some cases, coupons of manufacturers and of retailers can be stacked to get better deal, it means, you use both to get better discount.
Manufacturer coupons can be found on their websites or on their social network page. For example, you go to Procter & Gamble website, click on Coupons and find digital coupons that can be downloaded to the loyalty card of your retail store, or printable coupons, which you can print and use in the store. Besides, many coupons are available on special coupon websites such as coupons.com, grocery-coupon-guid.com. Sometimes coupons can be even found on e-bay or other sites. Be careful, because it is against the law to sell coupons. You might have some problems with using them in your store.
Traditional retailer coupons are distributed through store magazines, local newspapers and mail. You can see Retailer coupon print on them. You can also find them right in the store at special coupon dispensers. There are also retailer e-coupons available. For example, on SHOP 'n SAVE website www.shopnsavefood.com in Savings section you can find a range of e-coupons to add to your loyalty card. However, e-coupons might not be available in all locations, so you should check service desk for details. Giant store’s website offers about 200 digital coupons. When you load necessary coupons to you card, you can print loaded ones to be more prepared for shopping.
To use manufacturer and retailer e-coupons you need loyalty cards of the stores you shop at. All e-coupons are downloaded to them. You should know that in most cases they do not double, although they can be stacked. You can’t use the same manufacturer paper and electronic coupon together, but you can use a paper and a digital coupon if one of them is of manufacturer and the other is retailer one. E-coupons also have the expiration date, so pay attention to the date you shop. After the expiration date, the coupon removes from your card.
Printable coupons. You can find printable manufacturer and retailer coupons on their websites and on special couponing websites. Some of the couponing websites allow creating special shopping lists and printing coupons according to it to make shopping more strategic.
E-coupons. Both manufacturers and retailers offer e-coupons on their websites and on their social network pages. They are loaded to the loyalty card of the retailer. If you shop in different stores, you should load coupons to different cards.
We should also mention mobile couponing, which means that you can search for e-coupons via browser or your smartphone App, which might be more convenient as you can load coupons to your device. Many retailers have their mobile Apps where special coupons can be found.
Useful websites about couponing
- Grocery-coupons-guid.com. A brilliant website where you can find all about couponing. Aside from very useful information about different types of coupons, details about using them and lots of tips to make your couponing smart, it offers a list of couponing resources, a list of stores with different loyalty programs and the printable grocery coupons.
- Coupons.com is one of the best websites for couponing where you can find pintable coupons, digital coupons and coupon codes for different kinds of goods like food, books, clothes, office supplies or restaurants. They also offer coupon codes for online shopping in different online stores like Amazon, jet.com or Old Navy. In Thegoodstuff section they tell how to coupon and how to cash back smartly.
- Retailmenot.com has a lot of printable coupons. There you can also purchase gift cards to earn cash back while shopping.
- Couponmom.com is very popular due to Stephanie Nelson, The Coupon mom, who has appeared in numerous TV shows with her idea of strategic couponing. On the resource, you can find grocery coupons, drugstore coupons, best current coupon deals and best free and Stock up deals. Besides, there is a brilliant How-to website section where you find easy to follow tutorials about smart saving.
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Rebates
Rebate or Cash back rebate is an amount of money that you get back after shopping. To get a rebate you can register on special rebate website and create an account on it. After that, every time you want to buy something in some online store, you first go to a rebate website, like Mr.Rebates for example. Then you click on a link with the shop name you want to shop at. This click gives the site you are using a commission for clicking on their link, which they take and share a part of it with you. After you finish shopping and pay, the rebates appear on your account. In most cases, you will be able to use them after 90 days, because within this period you are able to refund your purchase. After 90 days, your rebates are available. Cash back rebates can be requested as payment via check or Paypal in case the amount in your "Available Rebates" account equals or exceeds $10.00 USD.
There are many famous rebate websites like Mr.Rebates, CouponCactus and Ebates.
- Mr.Rebates has been one of the oldest and reputable rebate sites for several years.
- CouponCactus offers a large variety of shops not only in the USA and Canada, but also in Germany and Australia.
- Ebates gives up to 40% cashback at over 2500 stores including travel and vacations stores.
Vouchers
Another way to save money shopping online and offline is to buy a voucher or a gift card. Special gift card websites like giftcard.com or giftcardgranny.com offer you many discounted gift cards, which you can buy and use while shopping. So, before going shopping, it’s a good idea to check some gift cards sites and see if they have any discounted gift cards on goods you usually buy or intend to buy.
Some of these websites allow you to sell your unwanted gift cards through their website or App. There you can also find useful tips and tutorials how to combine different online saving tools like gift cards, refer a friend and cash back rewards to receive the best deal and help you to save.
On these resources, you can buy both physical and electronic gift cards. Some of them offer free delivery of physical ones. The advantage of digital card is that you do not have to wait for delivery; you get it to your email or App.
As there were some cases when the customers got empty gift cards, you should be careful and check if you can refund or replace it in case of any problems like that.
At first, it might look a little complicated to study out all the features of coupons, vouchers and rebates, but after a while, you realize how much of your money it saves. Besides, it is fun and definitely worth it.
