Want some scientific data on how to score the best deals online cuz that’s what we’re serving today.

These tips come courtesy of Charlie Graham, the founder of Shop It To Me.  To learn more about the site, read the post I wrote on it.

Graham, a graduate of Harvard Business school and an expert on online shopping, shared a few of his favorite shopping tips with us.  Here they are:

• “If you only have one day to shop—make it Friday. According to our [Shop It To Me's] historical data, over 25% of all sale items first went on sale on a Friday morning.”

• “Before you buy, check whether there’s a threshold at which the retailer offers free shipping. If so, order several items at once to reach the minimum (i.e., shop for yourself and your kids at the same time). Nordstrom.com ships $200 orders for free; Ann Taylor.com does it for $150; at Urban Outfitters it’s $200. Also, many retailers such as Saks.com offer free shipping promotions seasonally and list ‘coupon codes’ for free shipping on their Web sites.”

• “A handful of online retailers always offer free shipping, so checking out sites such as Shopbop, Piperlime, Zappos, Tobi and Endless, could be useful.”

• “Great deals also can be found at boutique online shops, not just the big retailers. FashionChateau, edressme, singer22 and Tobi are just a few of the online boutiques we’ve seen offering great deals on in-season merchandise.”

• “Several retailers are increasing the speed at which they markdown merchandise, as well as moving up the dates of things like ‘annual sales.’” Now is a great time for shoppers to challenge themselves to only shop when items are below full prices.”

I accept your challenge Mr. Graham.  Another great online shopping tool is retailmenot, where people from all over share promotion codes and coupons with each other.

It’s a favorite and definitely worth your while!

Until next time,

Trendspotter