Image credits: Dressformer | commons.wikipedia.org
E-commerce is taking off in Asia, and an increasing number
of consumers are shopping online mainly because of the convenience that online
shopping offers. Furthermore, as shopping through the web gains traction, online
retailers are also handing out promotions to draw more online sales.
Therefore, for the prudent online shopper to gain the most
deals from this development, here are a few shopping hacks to help you along
the way of getting the best prices. Most importantly, always remember that
you’re the customer, so play tough. You don’t have sale quotas to meet, but the
company you’re shopping with probably does. Leave them hanging for a little and
they will probably come back to you on a bended, virtual knee.
The main purpose of these hacks is to help you get the best
deals there are online and help you on the road to greatness, so kickback,
relax, and go get the best deals there are!
Order in bulk to save
shipping costs
Image credits: rose_mcavoy | pixabay.com
Shipping costs from American/European countries to the
Philippines can often cost more than the things you have ordered. Therefore, to
counteract the shipping costs, try to buy more in a go, and rope in more
friends to share a cart with you so you can all share the standard shipping
costs, much like sharing the price of a taxi ride.
So gather a few friends (who live in the Philippines too)
and get your purchases delivered to the same address, then you can bond with
your friends while separating what each of you have bought.
Be a loyal member of
your favorite brands
Image credits: PublicDomainPictures | pixabay.com
If you are a loyal supporter of a certain online retailer,
don’t be afraid to show it; follow them on social media. Sign up for newsletters and take part in all
the different events that they have. Be a loyalty member— go ahead, because
they might very well reward you with exclusive discounts, or details with a
flash sale or an extra special promo code that might just set you ahead of
everyone else.
Who knows, there just might even be an online closed-door
sale for the store’s loyal customers! So don’t be afraid of showing off your
loyalty—companies love to extend their goodwill to you too!
Play hard to get
Image credits: Zionfiction | flickr.com
Sometimes, when you leave things in your cart for some time,
the online retailers would become more desperate and send you an email—
sometimes offering you even better discounts to tempt you into checking
out your cart. Remember the sales quota mentioned earlier? Yes! Some online
merchants just need to drive those sales numbers!
Even if they sent you an email without offering you some
discount, they would be pleading for you to get in touch with them, to tell
them where they’ve went wrong, so just drop them an email and try to negotiate
for some discounts with them.
Good things (deals)
come to those who ask
Image credits: PublicDomainPictures | pixabay.com
Some online retailers have a live chat feature to answer all
your queries. Most people just ignore this feature, so stand out and use this
feature to get even greater discounts. Ask the person on the other end of the
live chat for more deals, and more often than not, they might just be able to
tell you exclusive deals not listed on the site that others may not know about.
Otherwise, you can also ask them when the next great sale
is, so you can set an alarm on your calendar to get your hands warmed
up—because when it comes to a hot sale, it often is fastest fingers first!
Know when to shop
Image credits: tigerlily713 | pixabay.com
Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are often the most popular
days for merchants to roll out and offer sales and discounts. One can only
guess the rationale behind this odd move (slow sales days, perhaps?) but why
question it? The duty of shoppers is to just make full use of any sale! So do
check out your favorite international online stores—or those in the
Philippines— later in the week just to make sure you are not missing out on
anything you dearly desire.
Search for coupon
codes
Image credits: Carol Pyles | flickr.com
Sometimes, directly searching for discount codes will yield
rewarding results. Some sites like RetailMeNot have an updated selection of
coupons ready for anyone who cares to search for them. Take note, though, that
there are also a few sites which will provide fake codes, so try to stick to
the more legitimate sites to save your time and effort.
Use cashback sites
Image credits: Public Domain | commons.wikimedia.org
Some sites—the most popular of which is ShopBack Philippines—offer
cashback on your various purchases. Too good to be true? You better believe
because it is true! These sites give
you your cash back on top of the
discounts you enjoy when you shop through their site at a partner merchant
site.
Furthermore, these sites, if dedicated to serving your need
for sales, might also collate some promotional codes from their partner
merchants for you, so be sure to explore those sites well to uncover the
secrets within!
Charmaine is a (window) shopping enthusiast who buys things only if
they are cheap enough.
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