AMEX Small Business Saturday is Back!

If you haven't heard of American Express' Small Business Saturday, get excited. On November 26, spend $25 at a small business and you will receive a statement credit for $25.  That's right: spend $25, get $25.  All you have to do is register your AMEX card here and then patronize your favorite small business.

Where can I find a small business that accepts AMEX?  Easy.  Just search using this link and look for "See where you can shop to earn your $25 statement credit."

For more great offers from American Express, you can sync your card here and receive other statement credit promotions and deals.

Getting Closer to Truly Interactive Advertising

While for years companies like Yahoo!, Microsoft (Hotmail), Google Gmail, and Facebook have bombarded us with ads that run alongside our emails and wall posts that attempt to target our interests, more refined, GPS-oriented applications are zeroing in our interests perhaps a little better.

With the proliferation of smartphones, a cottage industry of local and web-based shopping themed applications are sprouting up.  Among my favorite are "apps" that let you scan bar codes so you can play stock clerk at your favorite store.  While you scan, you can bet that the results returned from Google, or wherever else in which they hail, are planting "cookies" in your phone and building a profile on you.  And now, the advent of location-based savings is catching on, too, in other ways.  Built only for iPhones at the moment, a site called shopkick allows you to "check in" to stores for savings, in similar fashion to how foursquare works.  Things are getting interesting.

The idea is simple, and if you have ever seen the movie "The Minority Report" there is a scene where a customer walks into the store and is immediately recognized by a virtual retail employee.  With shopkick, when in proximity to a store, in which you may not even have to enter, a signal from your phone indicates that you may be interested in shopping there.  In return for giving up some privacy, you can be rewarded with something called kickbucks.  These can be turned into gift cards and other goodies.

With more information and savings opportunities than ever before, we all just might be cruising around with more tools in our arsenal to find the best deal.

New neighborhood discount shopping site

Today, I just got an invite from a MyPoints email to join Tippr a local marketplace deals website much like Groupon, Living Social, and Buy With Me.  The premise is simple for Tippr and the aforementioned sites: sign up to receive their daily emails and watch for awesome sales at local merchants.  When you sign up, it's typical to see deals of 50% off or more on your favorite restaurants, salons, gyms, and other retailers at no cost to you.

Consumers Edge tip: only take advantage of the deal if you were planning on spending money at one of these merchants anyway.  If you weren't, then you are not really saving money.

Secret Sales

In the Sunday coupon circular, I saw an ad promoting redplum.  If you look carefully at your coupons, if you still get the Sunday newspaper, redplum is probably a sponsor of them.  They are offering, on their website of course, the chance to get involved in secret sales, or exclusive sales, for free.  All you have to do is sign up. 

Expect deals on electronics, books, flowers and more.  All you have to do is enter a special promotion code when you check out.


As you troll through web, you will probably notice other "exclusive" shopping offers.  Join as many as you like, but just don't pay for any that ask for money.

How To Thrive and Survive “Black Friday”

With Thanksgiving looming, some may be thinking about their holiday shopping needs.  Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving has been a large one for retailers.  It is the day that many become “in the black” on their balance sheets.  Since Friday follows Thanksgiving, the name “Black Friday” was born.

While history has shown that many deals abound during this time, it also has unfortunately proven to be a very dangerous time to shop, literally.  Last year, an unruly crowd searching for bargains killed an unfortunate Wal Mart security guard after trampling him.  Read the story, I am not making this up.  With hard times right now, I am willing to bet that violence is almost certainly going to recur this year over deals.  One of the factors that continues to fuel the surging of shopping post Turkey day, besides the flagging economy, is the plethora of websites devoted to discussing Black Friday deals.  This site contains digitally scanned circulars from retailers, such as Wal Mart, that supposedly have been leaked or otherwise made available albeit a little earlier than intended.  While it is more fun to think that a disgruntled employee leaked these circulars, or they were obtained by other surreptitious means, I would not be surprised if they are intentionally done so to drum up sales.  Regardless, I hope people shop often (if they have the means) and employ my myriad savings techniques discussed on the blog to stimulate our flagging economy.   

Nevertheless, I won’t be shopping on Black Friday for several reasons: 1) I can wait; 2) I prefer to shop online when I can for a number of reasons; 3) the deals will be better after the holidays; 4) I am not a big fan of crowds, especially potentially violent ones; 5) I don't like to wait in line, idling my car and wasting gas, and maybe even paying for parking.  

Sure, shopping at home can cost you in shipping, but saving time and hassles can mitigate that cost differential.  Besides, would not you rather spend more time with loved ones?  Moreover, in a frenzied shopping environment, I would not count on getting much, if any, customer service.  If you are going to shop on Black Friday, I would recommend having a list of where exactly you want to go and what you are looking for to minimize any impulse buying; looking for an alternative route home to avoid traffic; leaving your kids at home, if possible; and the moment something doesn’t sound right with customers, step swiftly out of their direction lest a riot ensues.