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How to Find the Best Prices Online

There's no doubt that the web is the best place for finding the best prices online - for everything from electrical goods, cameras and computers to fashion (yes really) accessories, gifts, homewares,  food and drink.

With all of this in mind, just how do you find the best prices quickly and easily?  On the one hand you no longer have to schlep the stores to check out the prices, but on the other, if you’re not that au fait with how to shop on the web it can all be a little bit confusing.  Price Comparison?  Secret Sales?  Designer Outlets?  Where are they all, how do you use them and how do you use them fast?

These are my top tips for finding the best prices online, for everything from clothing to food and drink, and your next camera or computer.

Do research for specific products first.

If you’re looking for something like a camera, computer, small appliance or large you need to identify the specific product you want before you start to comparison shop.  So visit somewhere like which.co.uk for great product reviews or go to the manufacturer’s website and choose the product you want to buy.  Only then can you really price compare effectively.

There are lots of other review sites and blogs on the web so once you have an idea you can put this into the Google search box and see what reviews are available, but be warned, this can be very time consuming.  It’s worthwhile if you have a good idea of what you want and want to see what others have said. 

Price Comparison Websites

There are a huge number of these, with more springing up every day.  I have three favourites where there’s a very good choice and I like the way that products are displayed.  These are Kelkoo, Price Runner and Shopping.com.  Always remember that everyone shown has paid to be there, and that you won’t find all the retailers in one place, so it’s worth checking all three (or more) to get a good overview.

If you’re looking for clothing, accessories, homewards and baby clothing and equipment take a look at shop.com.  These are the non traditional areas for price comparison (although they have many others as well) but here they are particularly good and there’s a wide range of products and prices from household names and other shops you probably won’t have heard of.

Food and Drink

All the supermarkets are in high competition mode.  Start now and take a look at the offers there are and you’ll see that there’s always an end date, so that bottle of whisky you hoped to be able to pick up at a discount just before Christmas may have gone back to full price.  Take advantage of the offers as and when they come up and if you want to get your favourite supermarket to deliver to you just before Christmas make sure that you’ve booked your delivery well in advance. 

With the supermarket price wars seriously active you can save a lot of money on your shopping basket, particularly in the weeks leading up to Christmas and after all, you won’t have to carry everything home, either.

Clothing and Accessories

This has now become one of the fastest growing areas of online shopping after taking a while to get going.  There are sales and discounts going on all the time.  The three main places to shop are:

The Designer Online Boutiques – such as Matches Fashion and  My Wardrobe.

The Sales Outlets – think The Outnet, Koodos and Yoox

Members Sales sites – Vente-Privee, Cocosa,  Secret Sales and Brand Alley

Also take a look at the department stores John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser for excellent year round discounts, some times seasonal, and sometimes ends of lines throughout the year and the Outlet at ASOS.

Voucher Codes and Coupons

Again there are hundreds of these, for specific stores and always with a code that you have to use to get the discount and an end date.  You’ll have seen them in Grazia and as inserts in all the major glossies and you can find most of them together at myvouchercodes.co.uk and vouchercodes.com.  These are quick places to browse where you can take advantage of some of the great deals on offer on the web.

Comments - email patricia@thesiteguide.com