Online shopping is growing – and e-commerce companies are making your life and shopping experience easier.
The ecommerce market stands at ~ 9 T USD and is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~16% over the next 5 years to ~ to 20T USD. What is interesting to note here, is the growth in related industries – such as the cashback and rewards industry.
The online shopping rewards industry also known as the loyalty program industry has seen a growth of over 11% CAGR – during 2019 – 2023. This is expected to continue at CAGR 8.5% for the next 5 years, aiming to reach $ 42B by 2028.
This shows an increasing customer stickiness towards online shopping rewards.
Yet, not many people are aware of the hidden opportunities to earn more – using online shopping rewards.
Here we will unveil the 5 most helpful tips for earning while shopping online!
Avoid the recommendation system
It is important to understand that even when you save $1.00, you’re also earning around $1.33. That is exactly how businesses work and that is where we need to understand that how we can save as much as we can.
The recommendation system allows ecommerce websites to keep a track of the demand of any product by any user – based on the user activity.
When any product is demanded multiple times by the user, then the price also keeps rising higher and higher. The recommendation system sends cookies to your system – that tracks the consumer behavior, based on which the pricing of a product depends.
How to beat it?
The best solution is to buy products in the incognito mode. While you buy products in incognito mode – you make sure that you are able to by-pass the recommendation system – and there is no cookie launched on your device.
Don’t miss out on the loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are rolled out by the ecommerce stores for their loyal customers. So, if you are someone who has been preferring any particular store for your purchase, don’t forget to sign up for their loyalty programs.
Often they allow buyers to earn points for every purchase made – and this is what you should not miss out on!
Having a single sign up for all these loyalty programs – will help you keep a track of it. Some of the prominent loyalty programs include the following:
- NewEgg’s loyalty program which offers points to customers for adding reviews, purchasing products, and participating in community events
- Flipkart Plus is a loyalty program launched by Flipkart,wherein the customer can earn 4 super coins for every $1.32 spent that can be used for redeeming products.
Focus on comparison shopping
Comparison shopping means – comparing the price of the same product- same model across different shopping portals. Doing this helps you to get the best deal – and also improves the chances for you to save more – while shopping.
On top of it – comparison shopping also lets you know, if you are missing out on any feature – then comparing them helps you select the best product for you!
Install the extensions for online shopping rewards
Google Chrome extensions help you in tracking the price of a product as well as keeping a tab on the price variations. The price trend helps you find out when is the right time to purchase a particular product to get it at a cheaper rate.
Chrome extensions like Slick Deals help you to find out the cheapest deals that are available on the ecommerce websites for any particular product. Whereas the Chrome extension such as Fake Spot helps you to know which review is genuine and which are paid reviews. This way you save a lot by not purchasing a product that is faulty or damaged.
Don’t miss out on referral and coupon codes
When you are using any digital product, referrals and coupon codes are always available. If you refer the digital product to your friends or relatives, you get a certain cash back that you must take advantage of. If you don’t get cash back, there’ll be a certain percentage of reward points or discounts available for you.
Groupon is one such website that helps you to keep a track of all the online shopping rewards that are available for discount for any particular product. Make sure that you’re keeping a track of what you’re purchasing and look for the price variation and trends that can help you to get better prices.