5 Ways to Make Comparison Shopping Easier

Comparison shopping doesn’t have to be time-consuming if you use these ways to make comparison shopping easier.

You will see it said all over the internet on how to save money. The biggest tip is to comparison shop when making large and small purchases. This is because we live in a super competitive market now due to the increase of eCommerce and more and more new chains opening up every day. For the consumer, this is a great thing. You can now find practically anything at a price that you find reasonable no matter where you live. The only problem is comparison shopping is often time-consuming. To help you out, here are some ways to make comparison shopping easier.

5 Ways to Make Comparison Shopping Easier

Use apps – There are many apps out there that allow you to compare anything from groceries to online purchases. Some even reward you for finding savings. I like the Walmart Savings Catcher because if you don’t have time to price compare, it does it for you in your area and gives you the difference on a Walmart gift card. I also really like ShopSavvy. It is better for items you have time to wait to buy as it allows you to plug in items you are looking to get at a discount and lets you know when they go on sale in your area. Scan Life is another good one. It allows you to see and compare prices at once.

For groceries, I like to use Favado because it makes it easy to see stuff all at once. I also like Grocery King which is like a shopping list on steroids because it allows you to make a list and then compare it to local retailers, set alerts and keep all of your loyalty cards in one spot. Unfortunately, right now it’s only available on androids, but an IOS version is coming soon.

Check out websites that comparison shop for you – If you prefer to do comparison shopping on websites instead of apps, there are some great ones. Their sites allow you to get email alerts on prices and items you are watching in some cases, too. Check out my favorites, BizRate and Price Grabber. These are great for online shopping!

Keep the Amazon app ready to go – Yes, this tip could have gone in the App suggestion, but I think it is worth noting on its own because of how useful it is. Whenever I am about to make a purchase on something other than groceries (although I find myself using it more and more for those as well!), I pull out my phone and look at the price on Amazon first. Sometimes, I am blown away by how much cheaper it is on there and with free Prime shipping, I can’t go wrong.

Make sure you are using the same measurement when comparing pricing – One easy mistake in comparison shopping is not to use the same unit of measurement. This is especially true for grocery shopping. Look at the price tag on the shelf and look for the unit. Some stores do price items per ounce and others ‘per unit’. (For example, a 6 pack of soda would be per can). Save yourself some headaches and time by making sure you are comparing the same unit.

Don’t get too wrapped up in it– It’s easy to get a rush from saving as much money as possible, but try not to get too wrapped up in it. You will find yourself wasting too much time if you do. I have heard of people calculating inches on toilet paper rolls! Decide what is important to save on and skip the rest. Some items are so close in price that the savings aren’t worth the time it takes to calculate.