How to Save Money When You Shop Online

Online shopping can be invaluable at times like this. You can get access to essentials for your home and products to help you stay fit and well without heading to the supermarket. It’s incredibly convenient, which means we don’t always seek out those extra savings as much as we could.

Whether you’re an online shopping pro or you’re just starting to use it more, it doesn’t hurt to have a few tricks up your sleeve when it comes to saving money online. Saving a few pounds here and there always helps.

If you’re looking to make savings when you shop online, here are five things you can try.

1. Use Google Shopping to compare retailers

I used to really dislike Google’s Shopping tab, but it’s now become one of the first places I check when I’m shopping online. Once you’ve searched for what you’d like to buy on Google, you can open up the ‘Shopping’ tab and see who’s selling the item and at what prices.

This way of browsing can be useful for both generic and specific searches. For example, doing a search for ‘kids play house’ will bring up any related results. Explore them to discover a brand you hadn’t seen before, or narrow it down further to compare prices for the same item at different shops. If you know the exact brand name of the item then it’s even quicker to find the most competitive price online.

Not only is Google Shopping a useful way to compare prices, but it’s a good way to source hard-to-find or trending items too. It tends to only show in stock items, so it’s much quicker than checking each retailer website individually to see if it’s in stock.

2. Sign up for email newsletters or pop up discounts

While you don’t want to give away your email address to every shop and have a full inbox, it’s worth taking a look to see if your chosen retailer offers an email newsletter. This can be a great way to unlock savings, discounts and early access to future sales.

Getting new email subscribers can be hard, so most companies will be upfront about the benefits of signing up. This means you can decide whether to exchange your email address for a 15% discount or look for a better deal elsewhere.

As well as embedded email newsletter sign ups, some websites will run pop up ads where you can enter your details to unlock a discount. You might still end up on their mailing list (check their T&Cs) but it’s a quicker way of getting access to a potential discount. It’s easy enough to unsubscribe later.

3. Look for coupons and discount codes online

Once you’ve explored the retailer or marketplace’s website for discounts, it’s time to see if there are any sneaky discounts listed elsewhere.

Do an online search for “brand name discount” or “brand name coupon” and take a look through the top few results. A lot of the first results will be dedicated coupon websites and can often feature generic offers rather than genuine savings codes, but it’s worth spending a few minutes here to see if you can save money.

Often discount codes won’t stack, so if you’ve found a discount code direct from the retailer you probably can’t use both. Compare the savings between the two and use the more lucrative code when you place your order.

4. See if the retailer is listed on a cashback website

Using cashback websites like Quidco and Topcashback can be a great way to earn money back on your purchases. While you don’t always save money up front by doing this, some retailers will offer an exclusive discount alongside a cashback rate.

It’s easy to see whether a brand or retailer offers cashback. Head to your cashback site of choice and type the retailer’s name into the search. You’ll then be taken to the relevant page where you can see the current cashback rate and whether it applies to your product category or not.

If you find your retailer doesn’t offer cashback, you might still be able to make a saving. If you’re buying a branded product that can be sold by multiple retailers, it’s worth taking some time to see if any competing retailers offer a cashback incentive. If you can wait for the cashback, you could save more money in the long run this way.

One thing to watch out for is that most cashback websites will decline to pay out if you’ve used a discount code or coupon that isn’t listed with them. Keep this in mind when you order, especially if you don’t want to miss out on that future cashback amount.

5. Compare delivery options

Once you’re confident you’ve found the right retailer or website to buy from, it’s worth taking a final look at their delivery options before you order.

While some retailers (like Amazon Prime) offer free delivery, with others you’re looking at postage costs on top of your item price. If there’s a delivery fee per order, try and group your orders together or wait to order until you’re sure you won’t need anything else. It might only be £3.95 for delivery, but making two orders in a month instead of one means less money in your pocket.

It’s also a good idea to consider whether the website offers a ‘free spend over £X’ promotion. If your basket total is just under this amount, it might make more sense to add another product to your order rather than pay a delivery fee and receive no additional value from that spend.

How do you save money shopping online?

These are my favourite tried-and-tested ways to save money when I shop online, but I’d love to hear what you think. Do you have any tips for us on how to make even more savings? Share them in the comments!