Category: Shopping

Shopping

Are You Getting the Best Online Shopping Deals?

Jayne9 Comments

Who doesn’t love getting a great shopping deal? Let’s face it, there is just something so rewarding when you can scoop up a great deal, and chances are you’ll tell all your friends and family about it. So, imagine if there was a way to better your odds of finding those great deals? Imagine if you never had to feel like you over-paid for something ever again, and in fact you were getting a steal the majority of the time.

In order to make that a reality, we’ve gone ahead and put together some tips and tricks that will help ensure that you get the best online shopping deals each and every time.

Search for Discount Coupons

Before I buy anything online, I always make sure I do an online search for any discount or coupons for that store. There are coupons online for almost every shop, including Kohl’s coupons, and it’s a great way to save some money on your shop.

Find Sites That Locate the Deals for You

One of the best ways to scoop up all those great deals is to find a website that catalogs them all for you. This saves you a whole lot of time and hassle since you won’t have to jump from site to site looking for sales. A great example of such a site is the Upgraded Reviews site, which provides details on how you can save on everything from food to software. Because everything is categorized, you simply click on the category you are interested in and deals will pop up. Another solution we have found is, have a search for sites that offer cashback for everything you spend on certain websites. For example, if you’re shopping at Nordstrom, then have a look for nordstrom promo codes to help you save those extra pennies!  

Do Comparison Shopping

Just like you would do in an actual brick and mortar store, it’s also a good idea to do comparison shopping online, and this means searching various websites for pricing, warranty information, shipping fees, etc. Even if the product isn’t exact, you may find a close enough match that is much better priced by looking around.

Look for Free Shipping

Another area that you can save money on, and make your shopping deal that much sweeter, is to look for free shipping. Oftentimes websites offer free shipping on a minimum order. What this means is that you have to order a minimum number of products in order to get that free shipping. If you don’t have enough to reach that minimum, either wait until you have a bigger order, or see if you’ve got a friend that wants to go in on it with you and the two of you can then take advantage of the shipping deal.

Loyalty Member Discounts

First time shoppers and loyalty members can also be offered discounts and promotions online. Often if you sign up for a company’s e-newsletter, you’ll be treated to a one-time use discount code. This will obviously bring down the price of your purchase. Also, many companies have customer loyalty programs or rewards that provide you with free samples, discounts, exclusive deals and promotions, and early access to high-demand products.

Price Matching Can Be Done Online Too

It’s also important to note that many of the big retailers offer price-matching online now as well. What this means is that if you can find the same item for a lower price somewhere else, the price will be matched. What’s the point in this? Well maybe one site offers a better shipping rate or faster shipping.

Go Ahead and Leave Items in Your Cart

The final trick is to go ahead and leave items sitting in your cart. Often, you’ll end up getting an email with a savings code or coupon code that you can apply to that item in order to bring you back and close the sale.

Smart Shopping = Great Deals

By using all these smart tips and tricks, you’ll find that you are able to score the best online deals out there and never question if your purchase was worth it.

Shopping

5 Things Customers Have Come to Expect from All Shops

JayneLeave a comment

There are more and more businesses popping up with competitive products and services. Both online and offline customers are spoilt for choices. It is evident that customers have high expectations when they go to a store to buy anything. If the expectations are not met at one shop, there are plenty of others that they can go to for their shopping needs.

As a business, to outdo your competitors, it is essential to meet the expectations of your customers no matter how high they are. Customers have some basic expectations that need to be matched to maintain the customer.

Wide Variety

When you open your business, you can decide on the niche that you want to cover. No matter what you are choosing to sell, you need to ensure that your customer is not returned empty handed. Well stocking your store is important to keep your customers coming back. If your customer repeatedly has to go back empty handed from your store they will stop coming to your store when they need anything. Variety is key to keeping your customer interested. From the products you sell to carrier bags, you need to give a lot of options to your customers. Just like cotton printed bags wholesale you can buy all your products wholesale.

Big Discounts

Even if your customer does not expect your store to sell products at a loss, they do expect to avail discounts. Discounts allow customers to feel like they are getting the best deals. You need to offer discounts on a regular basis. Offering discounts are not enough you have to notify your customers that you are providing some kind of discount. When you buy cotton printed bags wholesale, you expect to fill them up with products your customers purchase. Offer discounts so that customers do come to your shop to buy what they need.

Quality Products

Every purchase from your shop should be a happy one. If your product does not meet the quality that your customer is looking for then they will not return to your shop again. from the products you are selling to the carrier bags you give, quality is a priority. Even if you buy cotton printed bags wholesale, you need to make sure that your supplier is providing you with the best quality product. Customers expect quality in exchange for the money that they are forking out.

Excellent Service

Customers do not like wandering around shops when looking for products. Customers do not like waiting in the long check out cues. Customers do not like long, arduous process when dealing with returns and refunds. Customers do enjoy speedy service with a smile. How your employees treat your customers can ensure if your customer will return to your store or not.

Loyalty Rewards

A customer is more likely to return to a particular shop if there is some incentive for the return. Loyalty points incentivise your customer to make further purchases from your store. Some customers may even seek out businesses that offer loyalty memberships and rewards. So, set up a system of giving your loyal customers something in return for the business they bring to your shop.

Meet your customer’s expectations and keep them coming back for more.

Fashion and Style · Men Stuff · Shopping

Mainline Menswear – Top Brands and Great Prices

Jayne3 Comments

Recently, Mainline Menswear got in touch to see if we’d like to write about them in exchange for some new duds for Husband and being the lovely wife that I am, of course I agreed! Husband and I tend to vary when it comes to clothing. While I tend to buy cheap stuff which invariably ends up worn to death or covered in bleach stains, he goes for much higher quality items which he looks after and last a long time. It’s a running joke that he’s got clothes which are older than me (not literally…but not FAR off!) and he firmly believes that you get what you pay for, which means it’s worth paying a bit more for stuff which lasts. If they’d add a create your own tux section to the site, it would be the only place you ever needed to visit for men’s clothes!

The site itself is packed full of brands that Husband loves, such as Ralph Lauren, Levis, Armani and more, so after a little while spent browsing the site, this is what he chose:

Mainline Menswear

Paul and Shark polo – £80

Ralph Lauren Sullivan Slim Fit Jeans – £53

Adidas Originals California t-shirt – £23

The package arrived the day after we ordered the stuff, which is really good to know if you’re needing something to wear for the weekend and it’s already Wednesday! The items themselves were really good value and the usual high quality you’d expect for designer clothing. The site was really easy to navigate and each listing shows all of the available sizes at a glance, letting you know whether they’re in stock or not – I don’t know about you, but I HATE it when I’m shopping online, finally choose something only to discover it’s not in stock, but that wasn’t an issue here.

Originally, Husband actually chose a pair of trainers but because he’s a slightly awkward half-size, they were too small and needed to be returned. The return process with some online stores is really complicated but at Mainline it’s simple. All you do is use their online return form, enter your order number and it produces a pre-paid returns label which is deducted from your refund, meaning you just need to drop it off at the post office – simple!

All in all, we’ve been really impressed by our Mainline Menswear experience. Delivery was super speedy, the clothes were great quality, the prices were good and the customer service second-to-none. I highly recommend using Mainline Menswear if you’re looking to buy something for a Husband, boyfriend, male relative or anyone else who loves a label and I’ll definitely be shopping there for gifts for Husband in the future.

Baby · Fashion and Style · Kids · Shopping

Kids Autumn/Winter with Petit Bateau

Jayne1 Comment

Something that I love about shopping online is that I can source things which are a little bit different to what you’d normally find on the High Street. This is especially great for finding clothes for Sausage and Burrito Baby as I do love dressing them to accentuate their unique personalities, which is why I was happy when Petit Bateau asked me to put together an outfit for each of them from their new Autumn/Winter range.

Sausage is pushing boundaries with her fashion choices at the moment. She loves to be a little bit different (hence the pink hair during the holidays!) and relishes bucking against what girls in her class would be wearing. BB likes to wear things that look “pweety” (yep, that’s how she says it!) but which also allow her to charge around and don’t impede her running/climbing/dog riding. Here’s what I chose for them:

 

Petit Bateau

 

Grey is one of my favourite colours for clothing at the moment and I think the grey jeans make such a nice alternative to blue or black, which is what you see on most people. Sausage and BB both look amazing in most colours, but Sausage looks especially fantastic in autumn/winter palates because of her wild red hair, while BB looks great in more neautral shades because of her blond locks and pink cheeks.

I actually wnjoy shopping for the girls SO much more than shopping for myself, so spending an afternoon scouring a site and choosing things for them is a real treat! Have you shopped with Petit Bateau before? Do you enjoy shopping for your kids? What would you choose from the Petit Bateau ranges? Leave me a comment below!

Christmas · Shopping

Start Your Christmas Shopping Early

JayneLeave a comment

Okay, I realise that I’m being a MASSIVE hypocrite here, by mentioning Christmas during the summer holidays, after moaning on more than one occasion about various press releases mentioning the festive period already. However, I’ve realised that this is actually a great time to start Christmas shopping with so many summer sales on at the moment.

I always have great intentions of starting early with my Christmas shopping and then it gets to the last week of November and I realise I’ve completely missed the boat. The main reason I manage to talk myself out of starting early is that I always think I’m going to end up buying things for people which they’ll already have by Christmas, so I thought I’d do some brainstorming about the sort of gifts you can buy early which will either be pretty unique or won’t matter if they’re doubles…read on to see my ideas!

Pyjamas

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Nobody ever has too many pairs of pyjamas and you’ll often find that they’re really cheap at this time of year, because it’s so warm and no-one wears snuggly PJ’s in this heat! There are some great loungepants in the Ralph Lauren sale for the man in your life and they’ll make a great gift as the Ralph Lauren label makes them that extra little bit special.

Underwear

Underwear is another thing which people always need; don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you buy lingerie for your mother in law or colleague, but buying some nice undies for your nearest and dearest is a great way to fill a stocking (if you’ll pardon the pun!).

Candles

Candles and other ornaments are a great thing to buy and put away as they won’t spoil and they’re easy to store. If you shop around, you can often find ‘wintery’ scents at their cheapest at this time of year. purely because nobody wants to smell mulled wine and gingerbread in August, but this makes them perfect to buy now and save for Christmas.

Slippers

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Another classic Christmas gift is slippers and if you opt for a premium brand, they’re a great gift to buy now and put away. The Tommy Hilfiger sale has some great offerings at the moment, which would be perfect for the colder months and will make a great gift for that Uncle who you can never seem to find a decent gift for!

Homewares

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Anything home related such as throws, framed photos, accessories and cushions all make great gifts, especially if someone you know if moving house or getting married. There are so many premium brands such as Calvin Klein which offer super smart homewares which people would love to receive as gifts and which can be put away until Christmas, saving you a fortune when it comes to December.