5 Best New Apps For 2015 Holiday Shopping
Have your family and friends already compiled their, very large, holiday wish lists this year? Fortunately, there's an app for that (and more). A plethora of apps can make it easy for you to find the biggest and best deals online and in store, making it easier for you to either save money, or buy even more for the favorite people in your life. Here are five to help you through the holiday season.
Related: 5 Hottest Gadgets For 2015 Holiday Gifts
Is there someone on your holiday shopping list who wants a big-ticket item? Then download this app, which makes it easy to invite family and friends and pool money together so you can split the cost. While this app can be used all year round—think of it as great for weddings, birthdays, and even graduations—it can also help around the holidays. Want to easily collect money from the office for a holiday party, for starters? You can do that, too. The app also allows you to pick out what exactly the gift will be as well.
Getting the best deals on Black Friday means having a plan and knowing exactly which stores you're going to hit up to check things off your holiday list. This Black Friday app has been around for five years, and each year it puts all the doorbuster deals in one place, making it easier on you to plan your shopping day. The app features include leaked Black Friday deals, as well as the latest news on sales events. It also makes it easy to compare pricing, even when you're in-store.
Once a clipping coupons app for grocery stores, in 2015 iBotta received funding of $40 million to scale its business and today the app offers both coupons and cash back for shopping at some of the biggest stores in the country, including Target, Walmart and Best Buy. The app also allows you to create a shopping list; iBotta will then match that list with some cash back coupons, making it easy to save money. To get your cash back, keep your receipts and upload them to the app. You can then transfer that cash back to your bank account for more shopping, if you want, or turn them into gift cards.
While this app started in 2014, the shopping app has extended its offerings in more ways than one over the past year. Originally designed to help shoppers find deals on beautiful dresses, Donde Fashion now also features swimwear, shoes, bags and outerwear. The app was also upgraded to help you figure out your style, as well as search by the kind of event you're shopping for, whether it's for a holiday party or otherwise. Donde Fashion has been described as an app that's just like your own "personal stylist" at the click of a button.
Similar to Donde, Cute is all about makeup and beauty products at a significant discount (think 50-90% off!), as the products are coming direct from the exporters. With a whole range of cosmetics, fragrance, hair care, and skincare products, it's easy to pick out a variety of gifts as well as stocking stuffers.
Elizabeth SanFilippo is a freelance writer, who enjoys trying new foods from all over the world. But her favorite city for culinary treats will always be Chicago. When not blogging about food, she's working part-time at a culinary vacation company, The International Kitchen, based in the Windy City, as well as repping Younique cosmetics and skincare products. Some of her writing can be found at Examiner.com.