Tips for last minute holiday shoppers

Trae Bodge, a Smart Shopping Expert, joins TheStreet to share some tips for those with a late start on their holiday shopping.

Transcript

00:00There's always those last minute holiday shoppers. What are your tips for those procrastinators?

00:06Yeah, so thankfully it is pretty easy to get things quickly. But what I would say is this,

00:11if you are scratching your head and you're not sure what to get someone, give them a gift card.

00:17Gift cards are always among the most popular gifts, if not the most popular gift every single

00:24year. And so gift cards are a great option if you're not sure what to buy. And thankfully,

00:29gift cards have come a long way. There are sites like giftcardgranny.com or perfectgift.com,

00:35and you can actually customize a gift card with a photo that you've uploaded, a special message to

00:42that recipient that will be right on the gift card. And then the recipient has some flexibility

00:47too, where they can choose to receive a plastic Visa card that they get in the mail with your

00:52picture on it that you've uploaded, or they can opt for a gift card for a certain retailer. So

00:58there are options on the giver and the receiver's end to make that gift really special.

01:03And so what are some of the most, the must-have apps or extensions to save money during this

01:09holiday shopping season? Yeah, so Slick Deals, like I mentioned, is one of my favorites. Another

01:14one that I like is called Coupon Cabin. And the reason why I like Coupon Cabin is because they

01:19have a website. They also have a browser extension, which means once you've installed it,

01:25it will automatically offer up cashback opportunities, coupons, it'll run coupons for

01:31you at checkout, and it has an app that you can use in-store. So when you're in-store on Black

01:36Friday or any other day during the season, you can look through in-store exclusive deals and

01:42show them right at checkout and save a little bit extra when you're there. So those are two of my

01:47favorites. And then I would also recommend that if you have retailers that you love to shop with,

01:53make sure that you sign up for their emails and also their loyalty programs. And many

01:59retailers have free loyalty programs. Think Target, for example, is a really good one

02:04because you can get extra benefits, exclusive discounts. You can earn points towards free

02:09merchandise. So make sure that you're signing up for those loyalty programs because I am seeing

02:14that retailers are really leaning in to those loyalty programs to secure that customer. And

02:20the customer can really benefit from belonging to that program.