SAN ANTONIO — If you have Amazon Prime, it might be time to put your membership to work and use the one-day or same-day delivery options offered on some items. Otherwise, in-store shopping might be your best bet the closer Christmas gets. There are still plenty of bargains to buy.
“You can expect deals right until Christmas Eve,” said Kyle James of the money-saving website Rather Be Shopping. “Black Friday and Cyber Monday weren’t record-breaking. So there’s still quite a bit of inventory. They’re trying to clear it out to take advantage of last-minute shoppers. I’m seeing some pretty good coupons and deals on some of your favorite categories: Electronics, toys, personalized gifts, things like that.”
Prepare before you head to the store.
“The worst thing you can do is to show up with money in your pocket looking for something to buy and not doing any research ahead of time because it’s amazing how many stores will price match,” James said. “So you could be shopping in a store, say: ‘Hey, you know, Amazon has it for this.” Or go to the store down the road, ask for this and let’s go match that price. Sometimes they’ll even beat it by 5% or 10%."
Do not go to the store with just cash. Make sure you carry coupons, too. They will not take up room in your wallet if you find them digitally. The RetailMeNot app will help you save 15% to 20% off purchases.
“You can pull up coupons in-store, if any are available,” James said. “It’s kind of a great way to guarantee you’re not going to pay full price whenever you’re shopping in-store.”
Not exactly sure what to get? Gift cards are always a good fit.
“Everyone likes to shop and buying a gift card, say a Visa or Mastercard or from a beloved store like Target, something like that I think is really safe,” said Trae Bodge, the smart shopping expert of True Trae.
You can find discounted gift cards online at Gift Card Granny or Raise. A digital gift will also arrive instantly, if you need a really last-minute present.
“What’s also nice is you can’t lose a digital card,” Bodge said. “It stays in your email or text and then you can use it whenever you’re ready and not worry about misplacing it.”
Or gift Christmas cash. No need to run to the bank. PayPal or Venmo the money instantly. You can even add digital gift wrap to make it more merry.
“If you do this through Venmo, they have an exclusive partnership with Mariah Carey and there’s a Mariah Carey themed holiday gift wrap that you can take advantage of so the recipient will have a really festive moment when they receive the cash,” Bodge said.
That digital gift wrapping will not cost you any extra so sending a digital gift saves you both on shipping and wrapping.