Festival shopping: Try these tricks for better online discounts

These online services, and a few smart tricks, can help you become a a more savvy shopper

During last year’s online shopping festival, Rajasthan-based Pramod Goyal shortlisted a mobile phone priced at ~33,000. He saw that there was an additional ~3,000 offered as exchange discount for an old smartphone. He did not have one, so he bought his colleague’s old mobile for ~3,000 and gave it in exchange. His total discount looked like this: ~3,000 for exchanging the old mobile, ~5,000 as the value of the old phone that the e-retailer paid, ~3,000 as an upfront discount, and 10 per cent more as a discount on his bank card. He ended up getting the ~33,000 phone for about ~20,000.

This is just one of the many ways that you can get a better discount in the upcoming online shopping festivals. You can also use several online services.

With big retailers like Amazon and Flipkart, keeping their sales between October 10 and October 15, these online services can not only help you get the best deals but also help keep track of offers so that you don’t miss out on any. Affiliates of online retailers believe that this year’s shopping festivals are going to be much bigger than last year’s. “The competition has heightened in e-commerce after Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart. Global brands, with deeper pockets, are vying for a bigger share of the market,” says Swati Bhargava, cofounder, Cashkaro.com.

Discounts beyond mobiles

In the past few years, most of the offers have been smartphone-centric. The reason: It is one of the fastmoving categories online. Online retailers are broadening their portfolios this year, and are expected to offer higher discounts on other categories. “Consumers can expect more discounts on consumer durables, especially large appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners. It is one of the thrust areas for retailers now as the margins on smartphones are getting thinner,” says Rohit Chugh, chief executive and founder of Logicserve Group, owner of CompareRaja and CouponRaja.

Discounts on smartphones will continue. Other categories that you can expect deeper discount include electronics and fashion (clothes, bags, footwear, watches and other accessories). Easier way to keep tab

Keeping track of all available deals is difficult. Many, therefore, sign up for email offers. But this year the action has shifted to chat messengers and social media. Affiliates of eretailers, like CashKaro, now offer deals on WhatsApp. You can also keep a tab on deals on Twitter, where information is posted instantly. Many also have browser extensions that send deal alerts. Yes, it can be disturbing get alerts constantly, but you can switch them off when not needed needed. Get cashback when you spend To get more business and widen their customer base, e-commerce players offer commissions to marketing affiliates that send users to their websites. Platforms like CashKaro.com and GoPaisa.com pass a part of this commission back to shoppers. “The cashback depends on the product category and the shopping website. It can range between two per cent and 35 per cent. We pass on 70-80 per cent of our commission to shoppers," says Bhargava. The cashback goes into the shopper’s account with the affiliate, and can be used for the next transaction. Some also give an option to transfer the money to bank accounts and mobile wallets.

These websites also strike exclusive deals with e-commerce players. Watch out for coupon codes on affiliates’ websites that can get you an additional discount, over and above what the online retailer is offering.

Comparisons made easy

The primary feature of a price comparison platform is to let shoppers compare product prices. If you want to buy a television, you can go to websites such as PriceDekho.com, CompareRaja.in, MySmartPrice.com, Buyhatke.com and Smartprix.com. They will show you the current prices available at different online retailers and whether there are any debit/credit card or exchange offers available. Buyers can see the prices on a single page and decide where the product of their choice is the cheapest.

Use online retailers’ apps

These were more popular until last year. But this year onwards, the popularity of app-exclusive deals has been falling. “E-commerce players have realised that for expensive items, shoppers prefer bigger screens,” says Chugh. Big players, however, still offer discounts on low-value items through their apps. Mobile apps help e-commerce player get more insights about customers, which help them improve offerings. That is why such deals will remain.

Others handy tools

There are online price trackers such as Keepa which let you see the historical pricing of an item on Amazon. You can see the lowest price at which an item was sold; that can tell you if the deal is worthwhile or not. Many price comparison and coupon websites also have browser extensions that let you fix alerts on price drop or when an item is close to your desired price.