There are a number of smartphone applications that can help you to organize your shopping, track your spending, and let you know that you're walking away with the best deal available. About 60 percent of shoppers will use online shopping and price comparison applications to hunt down the best deals.
Here are the best apps to help you save money this holiday season. All the apps listed are free and widely available across multiple smartphone platforms, such as iOS and Android.
Gift List
Developer: Gennubi
One of the best ways to save money is to start with a budget, and Gift List allows you to do just that.
It’s not the only app out there that can help you create a budget, but it’s one of the easiest — and it’s free. Its simplicity also makes it more likely that you will keep using it throughout the hectic holiday season.
So before you hit the mall or fire up the computer, set up a budget for all the people on your gift list, then make a note of the gifts you want to buy and how much they cost, and Gift List will keep a running tally, making it easy to see if you are about to bust the bank.
FastMall
Developer: MindSmack
With gifts to buy and places to go, the last thing you want to do during the holiday season is lose precious minutes trying to hunt down a restroom at the local mall.
FastMall has maps and allows interactive navigation at more then 1,250 malls across the country, and they are adding updates and new locations all the time.
In addition to hunting down the location of the nearest restroom, FastMall helps you pick the quickest route to your favorite store. You can even tell it to find the fastest route using elevators if you’re navigating the holiday crowds with a stroller.
Key Ring Rewards
Developers: Moestream Media
Being a member of a store’s loyalty program is a great way to save money or earn special rewards, but if you’re like me you have amassed quite a number of them and hate flipping through them frantically at the cash register.
This app will have you looking like the picture of organization when you hold up your smartphone to scan the loyalty barcode.
With Key Ring Rewards you take a picture of your membership tag, and viola! You’re ready to go. Just use the app when you’re in the checkout line. The cashier can either scan the barcode from the image on the phone, or enter in the membership number.
TGI Black Friday
Developer: Ecatcher
Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, and advertisements for the Black Friday deals are already beginning to leak out.
This app allows you to easily scan the Black Friday ads for all major retailers before they show up in the your local paper and make a personal shopping list with a touch of a finger.
The app also makes it easy to share deals with other people by email, compare prices to make sure you’re getting the best deal, and shop online for products that may be available before Black Friday.
ShopStyle
Developer: Sugar
If fashion is your thing, and you don’t want to bounce around from retailer app to a retailer app, you’ll want to check out ShopStyle.
This app lets you browse, search, and buy clothing and accessories pretty easily. You can narrow your search by brand, store, size, or price, and also receive alerts for sales of your favorite brands.
It’s also just a great-looking app, with plenty of product images that load quickly and are well organized. You can even zoom into the pictures to take a closer look at the detail.
ShopSavvy
Developers: ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy is a must for the bargain hunter’s toolbox.
It’s is the kind of app that has already altered the retail landscape. With a simple scan of a product’s barcode, ShopSavvy delivers a wealth of information to the shoppers on the fly. Compare prices, read product reviews, or share information about potential purchases with friends.
The app has been around for a while, but if you haven’t used ShopSavvy since last holiday season you’ll also notice some changes. At the beginning of this year, the company rolled out Live Deals, a stream that highlights deals discovered by other users, and they upgraded the scanning technology to make it even faster.
Price Check by Amazon
Developer: AMZN Mobile
Amazon’s Price Check app is another way to compare prices. You can scan the product’s barcode, take a photo of the item, say the name into the mic, or type the name of the product into the search box.
Of course, the app also makes it easy for you if you’re standing in a store, and see the product for less at Amazon, to simply tap your finger a few more times and buy it from the online retailer.
Google, which is the tool many people use when they’re researching products at home on their computer, also has a price comparison-shopping tool, Google Shopper. One advantage Google Shopper has is that it ties into Google Offers, the company’s daily deal platform, which is available in nearly 20 metro areas.
