Online shopping trumps physical shopping when it comes to convenience and variety of products. But that’s not all – there are tons of ways to save money when you shop online. Here are a few online shopping tricks to get the best deals and discounts.
Use a shopping comparison site
If you’re looking for a specific product, you’d probably check multiple sites to see which offers the best price. That’s a good strategy, but you don’t have to do it manually. Instead, run it by a shopping comparison site like iPrice or PriceMe. These sites automatically compare prices across many different shops so that you don’t have to.
Use a cashback site
Use a cashback site like Shopback or RebateMango. These websites offer a cashback percentage if you purchase goods and services through their platforms. They have tons of popular merchants like Lazada, Zalora and Taobao. All you have to do is access the merchant’s site through their links and shop as usual. Once the cashback has been confirmed, you can withdraw it to your bank account.
Use your credit card
Your credit card issuer may offer discounts for specific shopping sites. Sometimes these discounts are applied automatically when you use your card to pay. Other times, you may have to enter a specific promo code. Just check your credit card issuer’s promotions page for full details on how you can score these savings.
Some cards also offer cashback, where a percentage of the purchase amount will be returned to you. For example, the HSBC Amanah MPower Platinum credit card offers up to 8% bonus cashback on your e-wallet spend. Remember to read the fine print when dealing with cashback cards – some cards could have generous cashback rates, but for specific categories like groceries or petrol. The amount of cashback you can redeem could also be subject to a maximum monthly amount or a minimum monthly spend.
Other credit cards give you extra reward points for shopping online. You can use rewards points to redeem miles, items, vouchers or cashback from your credit card issuer’s reward catalogue; some credit cards also give you reward points from the online store itself. For more information, check out our roundup of the best online shopping credit cards in Malaysia.
Use coupon codes
Before you click ‘checkout’, you’ll want to see if there’s a coupon code that could bring your purchase price down. This is as easy as doing a web search for “[your shopping site] coupon”, or you can search for your specific store on a coupon site.
Be sure to look out for vouchers and codes that are available on the shopping site of your choice too.
You can also download Honey, a browser extension that automatically finds and applies the best coupon codes for you. When the extension is installed, you will see its icon in the top right corner turn orange if you’re on a supported shopping site. Honey mainly supports sites in places like the United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia, but it does support some Malaysian shopping sites, including Lazada, Shopee and Zalora.
Leave the item in your cart
If it’s not an urgent purchase, leave the item in your shopping cart for a week or so. Some shopping sites will send you a coupon code for completing the purchase. This is a hassle-free way of getting a discount – plus, you’ll get to minimise your impulse purchases.
Wait for notable shopping dates
No matter what season it is, there’s probably a major shopping sale around the corner. It’s worth holding off on a purchase until the sale comes around, as these sales can sometimes offer big discounts. Some of the biggest sales include Singles’ Day on November 11 (popularly known as 11.11) and its derivatives (10.10, 9.9, etc.). For more, check out our roundup of notable online shopping dates.
So, there you go – six ways to find the best online shopping deals. Got a favourite shopping hack of your own? Share it with us in the comments.
