Saturday, November 19, 2011
Black Friday- Apps, Sites, Tips - CNN
The ultimate shopping holiday has almost arrived and believe it or not people are already starting to camp out! According to the National Retail Federation, up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend, which is more than the 138 million who planned to do so in 2010.
But today’s modern day Black Friday shopper is digitally savvy. According to a survey by InMobi, 60 million mobile users will shop on Black Friday using their smartphones and 21 million intend to purchase goods directly from their mobile devices.
If you’re shopping in store or online make sure you are equipped with the most powerful weapon this year for leads, deals and coupons-- the smartphone.
Below are a few APPS, WEBSITES and SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS to ensure you get the best bang for your buck!
APPS
According to the study, 45 percent of shoppers will use their phones for price comparisons while shopping, up from 22 percent last year. That’s where you turn to barcode scanning apps. :
Red Laser, ShopSavvy, TheFind -all good options. These apps allow you to scan the barcode of any product and see if you can find it cheaper at another store or online. I was using TheFind at Best Buy the other day to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off on a Blu-ray player. I checked other local electronic stores and online. You can even receive coupons with these apps.
Savvy.com (app and website)
Next up, there’s a new app that launched this week and tackles a problem a lot of us can relate to – price adjustments. According to Savvy’s research, consumers missed out on over $20 billion worth of price adjustments during 2010 holiday shopping spending – approximately $177 per U.S. Household. How many of us are afraid to buy something because it might go on sale in the next week or two? Fear not -with this app you can scan receipts from 41 of the most popular stores and if there is a price reduction, it will alert you so you can take your receipt back to the store. You can also set it to let you know when something goes on sale. For now I recommend the desktop version as there are a lot of bugs in the app – I've been speaking with the founder and he assures that will be fixed hopefully just in time for Black Friday!
Catalogue by TheFind
Great for tablet users. Catalogue compiles 70 top stores catalogues and circulars so it’s easy to flip through access plus you can select the products you want from your favorite stores and save them. It’s an iPad and Android app so it’s easy to flip through. Nice to have year round too because it has back issues.
SOCIAL MEDIA
You can bet that retailers are ramping up on all fronts of social media to leverage sales.
According to Shop.org, nearly 74% of retailers will use their Facebook page to reach out to shoppers, up from 57.1 percent last year. And nearly 60% will turn to Twitter to announce Black Friday deals.
Walmart, Target, Toys R Us and Lowes first turned to their Facebook pages to release their sales and contests. So, make sure you are following your favorite brands for sales and deals.
SITES
Here are a number of sites that aggregate Black Friday deals and coupons! Check 'em all!
TGIBlackFriday.com
Gottadeal.com
RetailMeNot.com
Savings.com
FatWallet.com
For more Black Friday coverage stay tuned to CNN and for all things nerdy check back often!
But today’s modern day Black Friday shopper is digitally savvy. According to a survey by InMobi, 60 million mobile users will shop on Black Friday using their smartphones and 21 million intend to purchase goods directly from their mobile devices.
If you’re shopping in store or online make sure you are equipped with the most powerful weapon this year for leads, deals and coupons-- the smartphone.
Below are a few APPS, WEBSITES and SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS to ensure you get the best bang for your buck!
APPS
According to the study, 45 percent of shoppers will use their phones for price comparisons while shopping, up from 22 percent last year. That’s where you turn to barcode scanning apps. :
Red Laser, ShopSavvy, TheFind -all good options. These apps allow you to scan the barcode of any product and see if you can find it cheaper at another store or online. I was using TheFind at Best Buy the other day to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off on a Blu-ray player. I checked other local electronic stores and online. You can even receive coupons with these apps.
Savvy.com (app and website)
Next up, there’s a new app that launched this week and tackles a problem a lot of us can relate to – price adjustments. According to Savvy’s research, consumers missed out on over $20 billion worth of price adjustments during 2010 holiday shopping spending – approximately $177 per U.S. Household. How many of us are afraid to buy something because it might go on sale in the next week or two? Fear not -with this app you can scan receipts from 41 of the most popular stores and if there is a price reduction, it will alert you so you can take your receipt back to the store. You can also set it to let you know when something goes on sale. For now I recommend the desktop version as there are a lot of bugs in the app – I've been speaking with the founder and he assures that will be fixed hopefully just in time for Black Friday!
Catalogue by TheFind
Great for tablet users. Catalogue compiles 70 top stores catalogues and circulars so it’s easy to flip through access plus you can select the products you want from your favorite stores and save them. It’s an iPad and Android app so it’s easy to flip through. Nice to have year round too because it has back issues.
SOCIAL MEDIA
You can bet that retailers are ramping up on all fronts of social media to leverage sales.
According to Shop.org, nearly 74% of retailers will use their Facebook page to reach out to shoppers, up from 57.1 percent last year. And nearly 60% will turn to Twitter to announce Black Friday deals.
Walmart, Target, Toys R Us and Lowes first turned to their Facebook pages to release their sales and contests. So, make sure you are following your favorite brands for sales and deals.
SITES
Here are a number of sites that aggregate Black Friday deals and coupons! Check 'em all!
TGIBlackFriday.com
Gottadeal.com
RetailMeNot.com
Savings.com
FatWallet.com
For more Black Friday coverage stay tuned to CNN and for all things nerdy check back often!
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Thank you so much for covering Savvy's mobile shopping app. We thought your readers might be interested to know that we have changed our name to Eyeona (as in keep an eye on a price). You can visit us at www.eyeona.com. We really appreciate it and thanks again.
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