The Online Wedding Shopper

I am very addicted to online shopping and there are some of the best deals ever online, especially this year, so I have decided to share my journey with online shopping journey with you! Do not ever pass up the opportunity to use promotional codes, especially on clearance items. I have saved so much money, sometimes I feel bad for getting products or services discounted so much, but you do what you have to do when you are trying to save money from your own pocket book. The number one tip to remember with online shopping is that the Best Days to Go Shopping Online is Wednesday, just like with Travel Deals!

Promotional Codes and Clearance Items: I will use www.zales.com for my online shopping example. When you visit the website or any website, most have a clearance section, which lists their products or services for a discounted price and that might be anywhere from 30-60% off of the retail price. After I select the item I want, I go to places like www.couponcabin.com to see if there are any promotional codes listed. If there is not, then I call the business toll free telephone number or telephone number and ask if they have any promotional codes they have listed on any website like www.couponcabin.com, www.retailmenot.com, or www.monkeybargains.com/. Sometimes businesses have the promotional codes hidden on their website, so make sure to convey a message that you want to make the purchase, but would really like a promotional code. Most business will work with you, so you can purchase the products or services.

Online Shopping Mall Websites: Great finds are found when it comes to online shopping malls on websites, such as, www.bing.com , www.amazon.com , or www.pricegrabber.com . A consumer can save money and time if you need a one-stop shop. However, with online shopping malls, I do not see promotional codes for those websites. If you found a product or service on the website, I would click the link of the item, open two other tabs in your browser to check out the company and use the www.betterbusinessbureau.org to see if there is any history on the company.

Back to ordering the product or service, I click to open another tab on the browser and open the hyperlink from www.pricegrabber.com to the actual website where the product or service is listed and then purchase the item directly from that website (example: www.zales.com )and then apply a promotional code from www.couponcabin.com , so consumers are saving even more money.

If no history exists, than I use a prepaid Visa Card during the checkout. I purchase the prepaid Visa card at my bank for the set amount in the shopping cart, plus the fee for the card itself, and then order the product or service online.

Promotional Codes and Online Coupons: The best places I have found online for promotional codes is www.couponcabin.com and www.retailme.not . Other websites for promotional codes for other types of products are www.smartsource.com, www.couponmom.com, and www.coupons.com.

Other coupons that can be found online are Coupon Kiosks, they are coupons consumers can print inside the store. An example of a store that uses Coupon Kiosks would be your local CVS. Loyalty Cards are cards consumers apply for at any large grocery store such as Meijer or Kroger’s and consumers receive coupons with the purchase at the store.

Shopping Widgets are the new latest and greatest thing to hit the marketing scene. Meijer is a Michigan based store which offers this new feature called Mealbox. It’s a down-loadable program that helps families make their shopping lists and find the latest deals at Meijer. The widget provides shoppers to instant store sales and savings and also attaches the latest coupons or the coupon bar codes to be scanned during the check out process at the store. This will help with any wedding reception food planning or party planning and will save consumers money at the same time!

Cellphone Coupons or Mobile Coupons are new to the marketing scene as well. Cellfire and Retail Me Not are the two places that I know of that offers cellphone coupons. I am sure there are more out there, but those are ones I know off the top of my head. Cellfire works easily and it uses a bar code technology and all consumers need to do is show the bar code directly from your cell phone to the customer service representative in the store for instant savings.

Free Shipping Codes
There are more stores using free-shipping instead of using promotional. The websites I have found for free shipping codes are www.freeshipping.org and www.freeshippingon.com.

Minimum-order requirements
Places like www.amazon.com offers promotions for consumers and they only need to spend $50 to $100 dollars to receive free shipping.

Memberships
Amazon.com and Sears each offer membership programs. Amazon’s is called Amazon Prime and Sears is called Sears Advantage Club, so these are both additional ways to save.

Other Helpful Website for Codes:

Travel Websites: Expedia.com or Travelocity.com, but use the promotional codes from either www.couponcabin.com and www.retailme.not.

Airline Shopping Malls: Use America Airlines or any airline that uses rewards points for shopping for using your frequent flyer miles. If you have tons of airline miles, you can use those towards purchasing products or services. Airfare Watch Dog provides links to all major airline carriers to their airline shopping mall websites! This is a perfect way to use tons of frequent flyer miles towards your honeymoon destination or towards the wedding party gifts for wedding participants.

Recycling and Reusing Wedding Items
Brides and grooms recycle many items from their wedding such as designer wedding gowns, bridal accessories, table decorations, bridesmaids dresses, bridal shoes, and more! You can find some great bargains on websites like Recycled Bride or Bravo Bride!

Social Networking Websites
Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are great places to find promotional codes. The Wedding Diary Online does update codes daily and wedding vendors post their promotional codes on this website for brides and grooms.

Bartering and Swapping
Due to the economy, many people are finding ways to barter or swap services or products with consumers or even with friends and family. If you are in need of items or skills someone has to offer in exchange for a product or service you are in need of than this can be a great cost-savings for brides and grooms when planning their wedding. A few website I have found for bartering and swapping are Craigslist-Bartering section, look for it on the website, Swap Treasures-Swap, barter, buy, and sell goods and services, Favor Pals- Swap services with others, Swap At Home- Post items you no longer use for coupons, or Barter Quest - Post what products or services you offer and people will match your offer.