Shopping Tips for the 25 Days of Christmas: Tip #14

I love how technology truly allows retailers to maximize customer service and drive sales. When I first started in retail, I remember how excited we were to get an corporate-wide email/intranet system. In fact, for about a month or so I went from store to store in our district, and beyond, to help train the store staff on how to use the intranet system.

What a different a few years (okay, about 17 or so!) makes! Technology leads us to the next couple of retai insider tips!

HOLIDAY SHOPPING TIP #14:

Sign up for retailers' email updates.

As much as many of us hate to get spam, or emails that simply clog up our inbasket, you can make these emails pay off in savings of both time and money! I have received emails that have offered exclusive savings and special buys. You can always sign up for the emails, and if you truly do not find them to be value-added, you can opt-out (look at the bottom of the email, there will be some kind of verbage to remove your email from their list).

I get emails from both online retailers and brick and mortar retailers. I am a huge fan of Amazon.com emails as they not only offer great savings in many cases, but they are also designed to focus on my likes and interests based off of my recent purchases. (Yes, I am a sucker and think that somehow they "know" me there at Amazon.com!) I have already saved over $100.00 easily by watching my emails and taking advantage of special offers.

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