By John Boyd, Co-Founder and CEO, ShopSavvy
Consumers looking for the best deals on products often forget about the shopper’s secret weapon: retailer price-matching policies. Simply find the lowest price online and get your local retailer to match it. The key to finding and presenting that lower price is the device in your pocket.
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With the use of mobile shopping apps, consumers now have access to more product information than ever before and can use it to their advantage. Consumers can shop at one retailer while simultaneously checking competitors’ prices at nearby locations and online stores.
The key to finding the best possible deal is to come prepared. Here are four steps that are essential to becoming a smarter shopper:
1) Do your research. Visit your favorite stores’ web sites to review their price-matching policies. Some, like Target, will not only match local competitors, but even Amazon’s prices and select online retailers’ with an easy-to-follow policy. Others only match local in-store prices. JC Penney, for example, matches only local competitors, but is relatively flexible about returns and price adjustments. Lowe’s not only matches competitors’ stores and websites, but also matches its own web prices in stores. The home-improvement chain even gives you 10% off the competitor’s low price.
2) Map out your shopping trip. To save time and money it’s helpful to make a list of the stores you’re planning to visit and plan your route accordingly.
3) Scan the product using a mobile shopping app. Once you’re in a store, scan a product you’re interested in purchasing using a mobile shopping app, such as ShopSavvy, to find the lowest prices both in-store and online. Show the cashier the results and ask if he or she will match the lower price. You may encounter an employee who’s unfamiliar with the store’s price-matching policy. Walmart, for example, will match prices on many items, including food, but every once in a while employees may not know the store’s policy. Simply ask if you can speak with a different employee or manager.
4) Make your purchase once the store agrees to match the lower price. It may take some persuasion, but very often stores will agree to at least match a competitor’s in-store price.
Driving from store to store and leaving empty-handed or unhappy are things of the past. Introducing technology into your shopping experience will ensure you shop more efficiently and leave the store satisfied.
John Boyd led ShopSavvy’s early monetization efforts and he developed the strategy for ShopSavvy’s novel mobile advertising program, which uses location and buyer intent to generate ads with an eCPM of $500. ShopSavvy developed relationships with major brands such as Best Buy, Google, Microsoft, Gap and Sony to build a program that has grown to several million dollars per year. As COO, John opened ShopSavvy’s San Francisco office and led recruiting of the engineering and product teams from scratch. He became CEO in October 2012. Before ShopSavvy, John worked in three startups in the mobile and technology space. All three ventures resulted in successful exits. Additionally, John worked at an Austin, Texas-based technology venture fund that had more than $1 billion under management and invested across a broad swath of technology spaces. John loves working with companies in nascent-but-strategic markets, not unlike the space ShopSavvy occupies.
