UK Discounts

is buying clothes online your idea of heaven? Maybe it’s actually your idea of hell!

Some people see many advantages in shopping for the latest fashions on the Internet. Some such advantages may well be clear to you. We tend to think of Internet shopping as being the way to help us save money. That’s because we’re well aware that online retailers often have much lower overheads than more traditional rivals. But it’s not always easy to see these cheaper prices. Even when you do find clothes that look cheaper, it can sometimes be a false economy.

Why should this be? There are a number of issues at play. A key one involves our inability to try clothes on before buying when shopping in this manner. This can certainly lead to problems. When the clothes arrive at our home, we may find that they don’t look as we imagined that they might. Common problems might include the fact that colours can often be distorted when viewing via a computer screen. Equally, maybe the style of the garment is not exactly how it looked online. What about sizing issues? These can certainly be a problem that many of us. We may discover that clothes simply do not fit correctly. At best, this can be a real inconvenience.

Fortunately, some stores are really very good when it comes to accepting that items will be returned. They do everything that they possibly can to try and make sure that you have a happy shopping experience. But it is certainly not the case that you can rely upon all retailers behaving in such a positive manner. That’s why it’s so important that you shop with stores who have an impressive track record.

That’s why you should look at far more than simply the pricetag. Shops that offer suspiciously low pricing should probably be avoided.

Your ultimate aim will be to find the right combination of bargain-hunting, convenience and great style. All of this is possible using the Internet, but some would argue that it’s not as easy as it could be.

Retail experts know that many of us have quite seasonal shopping habits. We tend to buy certain products at particular times of the year. This is an important phenomenon.

Indeed, advertising and marketing executives rely on such trends. By knowing when consumers are most likely to buy their products, they can focus their advertising spend correctly. So, this rather begs the question: what are you thinking of buying right now?

Retail sales figures tell us that some products and services are especially popular in the early months of the year. As you might expect, these would include clothing. That is mainly thanks to the January sales. We are encouraged to get out there and to shop for bargains. Thinking about things in a more modern manner, we may well do our clothes shopping online. But that does nothing to reduce this trend.

What else are we likely to be buying at this time of year? In the winter months, many of us wish that it could simply be warmer. We may well turn out thoughts to the future and particularly to our wish to go on holiday. As a result, this is also a period when many people start to make their travel plans.

How about those of us who have overindulged during the Christmas period? We may be interested in losing weight and trying to get fit again. This is obviously good news for the health and fitness industry is. But we may have gone over the top in a different manner. Maybe we spend too much money during the last few months. If so, this could be good news to the financial services industry.

That helps explain why people often spend January and February looking for new credit cards or personal loans. Similarly, this may be a time of year when we start to think about moving home.

It’s interesting to analyse these trends and ask ourselves what it is that we’re intending on buying in the next few weeks.

Why is it so expensive to get the train? This is something that I frequently find myself asking.

You would think that the authorities would be keen to get us using the trains more often. Yet, this hardly seems likely when we are faced with such excessively high prices. It’s no wonder that many people simply can’t be tempted out of their cars. Looking at making some recent travel arrangements, I couldn’t help but notice that it’s often cheaper to fly than it is to make use of the railways.

This simply doesn’t seem right. I’m not even talking about long-haul destinations here. I’m talking about the cost of moving around the UK.

Unless train fares start to fall, it’s hard to see how we’ll really be encouraged to ditch our cars. It would be nice to think that there might even be some great discounts available online, but the reality is that it’s very hard to get cheap train fares unless you’re prepared to book someway in advance.

Have you ever bought a holiday online? Maybe it’s something that you wouldn’t even consider doing. If so, you may well be missing out on some great discount deals.

There is absolutely no doubt that an increasing number of consumers are choosing to make their travel arrangements via the Internet. On the face of it, it would seem that there are many good reasons for taking such an approach. Many of us will primarily be driven by the desire to save money. Why should this be more possible when using online travel companies?

I think the first thing to say is that the alternative generally involves using a traditional travel agent. We’ve probably all had the experience of visiting an older style, traditional shop. Doing so often involves picking up holiday brochures. These were once pretty much all of the information that we had available when making a holiday booking.

This seems quite amazing now. When I look at such a brochure, I realise that they contain a surprisingly limited amount of information. Often, they seem to have little more than a short description about each of the resorts. There is also likely to be precious little information about particular hotels. It’s a wonder that we were ever able to book a decent holiday.

How times have changed! We can now use the Internet to get access to so much more information. We can find out all about a resort by reading various websites and consumer reviews. We’re no longer reliant on the subjective information provided by travel companies. This has been the first step in the process of making us more informed as consumers.

But another important development has seen us increasing our abilities to compare prices. As a result of this, we can quickly see which travel companies offer the best deals. We can then use discount codes and other such tools to make even greater savings.

I hate paying over the odds for just about anything. There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’ve been ripped off. Like many people here in the UK, I love the thought of picking up a bargain.

This applies to almost any sort of shopping that I do. It’s why I frequently choose to shop online. We all know that many of the best deals are available via Internet retailers, as a result of the fact that they will often have lower overheads than their traditional counterparts. But I still like to do everything I possibly can to save money. Maybe you feel the same way.

I’m always on the lookout for additional tools that can reduce my spending. I rarely make any purchase, for example, without checking a price comparison website first. This doesn’t always lead me to find a cheaper deal, but it is nice to have confirmation that you are paying a competitive price.

Another tool that I you like to use frequently is a discount code directory. Such directories allow you to look up the latest discount vouchers offered by a wide range of retailers. This can be particularly advantageous, allowing you to make additional savings on numerous products.

When I think about Internet shopping, I realise that it certainly offers many benefits from a consumer point of view. In particular, I like the thought of having access to far more choice. I’m able to carry out considerably more research, helping me to become more informed. Such information allows me to know when I’ve seen a good deal. It also allows me to avoid paying more than I have to. That’s why I’m certainly a convert to using the Internet for shopping.

Do you ever think about haggling? Some people would say that the whole concept is not very British, but does it really matter if it could help to save you money?

We may wonder how successful haggling might be in any case. It clearly seems unlikely that some retailers would be open to the idea of reducing their prices in response to such tactics. But might it be possible to make savings on some purchases?

I remember reading a national newspaper article that suggested that it was possible to get great deals on last-minute hotel bookings by taking such an approach. The journalist concerned would phone up individual hotels and ask whether they had a room available for that night. When quoted a price, he asked whether it might be possible to pay less. A surprising number of hotels did agree to giving him a discount deal. I found this quite thought-provoking.

But can we expect to make such savings on other purchases? It seems unlikely, for instance, that the same tactic will be very successful in supermarkets. Maybe it’s simply a question of supply and demand. There is no doubt that the tactic could help you to save money when dealing with independent stores. The key to success is to ensure that you’re dealing with a member of staff who has the authority to be able to offer a discount. In most cases, that means trying to talk to the manager directly.

When all is said and done, it really comes down to a question of confidence. Do we feel confident enough to challenge the prices that we do see displayed? Or do we simply sit back and accept that we must pay the quoted prices in all instances?

So the announcement from Apple earlier in the week introduced the iPad to the world. If you missed the fuss, by the way, then you can check out all the details of the iPad online.

Some of you may have seen the announcement and still be wondering what all the fuss was about! The most common question that I’ve heard so far is: what’s it actually for?

In some senses, this is harder to grasp than previous products from Apple. The iPod, for example, was clearly a great way to store and play your music. You could walk round, look cool and listen to anything from your music library. So how about the iPad?

Well, it seems to offer an interesting combination of functions. It’s a phone. It’s an MP3 player. It’s a digital reader for books. And it’s pretty much an entire laptop.

Over the coming months, as more and more of us get our hands on them, we’ll see how they’re used by real people. And they will be used. There’s no doubt about that.

Every new product release from Apple these days seems to be accompanied by a great deal of fanfare. The iPad was no different. It won’t be long until many people are wondering how they ever managed before they owned one.

Do you shop online to save money?

Plenty of us do and one of the key advantages of online shopping is this ability to make savings. Nothing tends to motivate us as much as the thought of spending less money. We all like to feel like we’re getting bargains.

But how much are you actually saving? Few of us really know because we don’t usually note down all the costs involved. If we did, what would we find out? Do we save 10% or 20% by shopping online? Or are savings minimal?

Maybe the real advantage to using the internet isn’t that we spend a lot less. It may be that we’re making more informed buying decisions. This is because we can read independent reviews and quickly compare prices. As a result, there’s less chance of us buying products that are of a poor quality. It also makes it less likely that we’ll be paying a lot more for a product than we need to.

But it may also lead to us having more opportunities. As we’re thinking about buying a product, we may read a review suggesting that another product is better. So we can end up buying a higher quality item. This may not lead to an obvious cost saving, but it could work well in the longer term. Perhaps the cost savings aren’t as clear as they could be, but it seems likely that intelligent shoppers could be making significant savings using the internet.

Another factor to add in here is that of convenience. Are we prepared to pay a little more for the convenience of shopping from our own home? How about additional savings that we may be making by avoiding transport costs, such as petrol or bus fares?

We may not like the idea of logging all of our purchases. Instead, we may feel that intuition tells us that we’re getting more for less.

Do you have a Wii? Plenty of people do and it seems that the Nintendo console has helped to bring video games to a large group of people who might otherwise never have given them a second thought. Maybe it’s because they encourage activity and fun - they’re not seen as being right for serious gamers. Let’s take a look at the UK Wii games sales chart:

1. Just Dance
2. Wii Fit Plus: Solus
3. New Super Marios Bros
4. Mario Kart
5. EA Sports Active
6. Mario And Sonic: At The Winter Olympics
7. Beatles: Rock Band
8. Rayman Raving Rabbit
9. Lego Indiana Jones
10. Ashes Cricket 2009

The above is just a snapshot for this week, but what does it tell us? Although there is a range of game genres represented there, it’s clear that a number of the leading titles are aimed at those wanting to get fit or to stay in shape. Are these games being bought by, or for, kids? That seems unlikely - these are probably mainly adult purchases.

The popularity of the Beatles game and the retro-popularity of Super Mario Brothers also suggest that Wii games frequently appeal to an older audience. Is this different from other consoles? It seems like it would be, although maybe it just represents a shift in habits as a whole.

Do you have regular stores that you visit for products? I certainly have a selection of shops that I think of when making purchases. Just for a bit of fun, I thought I’d name something that I’m looking to buy and note down my first instinct in terms of where I’d shop…here’s what I’ve come up with:

Grocery shopping: For me, right now, it’s Sainsburys. Why? Because they are my closest supermarket and have 2 stores in the town where I live. I’m afraid that I don’t have much brand loyalty - when I lived closest to Tesco, I tended to do my shopping there.

Medicines: I’d probably immediately head for Boots, even though it’s not my closest store - in fact, now that I think about it, there are at least 2 stores closer to me that would do the job. Superdrug might be another options, but it’s Boots that I’d opt for first.

A CD: An interesting one this one! I’d probably tend to look online first, meaning that Amazon would be in with a good chance of getting my business. If I happened to be in town, then I’d visit HMV for certain.

Video games: Again, my first choice would probably be to look at Amazon online. But, if I’m in town, then I’d doubtless opt for Game - they have the largest range.

Books: One items where I might not opt for Amazon in the first instance. I like to really browse for books, meaning that Waterstones would be my first choice.

A Loaf Of Bread: This one would be 50-50. It would either be Sainsburys or the excellent local bakery.

A Pair Of Jeans: Probably River Island in the first instance or maybe Debenhams. But I might actually drive to visit Republic if I was feeling energetic!

Chocolate Bar: This would really depend on the quality of chocolate that I was looking for. If I just wanted a quick chocolate fix then I’d head for a newsagents. If I was looking for something a bit more special