Grocery Shopping Tips To Ensure Maximum Savings

3 min read By eCompareMo on February 18, 2015

Most of us may be contented with the way our grocery receipts turn out. With brand loyalty a common concept among Filipinos, shoppers are too afraid to make the switch or try newer and much cheaper alternatives. However, what common shoppers do not know is that they can still save hundreds—even thousands—if they will make conscious efforts regarding their grocery shopping. Ready to enjoy maximum savings while shopping? Here are a few tips on how to save whenever you go to the grocery store.

Create a shopping list

Probably the biggest rookie mistake when it comes to shopping is storming the grocery without a list of things to buy will only lead to one certain thing: unnecessary expenses. When you go to groceries without a shopping list, you will end up buying things that you may not need at all. Aside from streamlining your shopping experience, listing down the items you have to buy will allow you to weed out items that may not be necessary at all. There is no disadvantage in creating a grocery shopping list.

Always check the promo rack

Since most grocers are familiar with their favorite shopping centers, they tend to automatically go to the lanes of the items they need to buy. While this may vary from one grocery to another, you may want to take a short trip to the promo lane. Available most especially in bigger supermarkets, groceries have certain areas dedicated to promotional items such as bundles, heavily marked down items, and others which cannot be found in their regular lanes. Take a stroll to the discounted items and you might be surprised with the items that you will find.

Rack up rewards and points

What better way to maximize your savings than to earn rewards for every trip to the grocery? If you want to get something out of shopping, then you might want to resort to earning reward points whenever you shop. There are two ways to earn points while shopping: apply for your favorite supermarket’s rewards card or use your credit card with reward points features. Use these cards every time you shop and when you have accumulated enough points, you can use them to purchase items or other goods. Compare and choose from wide range of credit cards with reward points features.

Consider changing the brand of your common items

Brand loyalty is inevitable; after all, some of us may have good experience when it comes to certain brands. What we do not know is that there are far cheaper items in the market that offer the same quality. Sometimes, the only difference between items of the same category are labels. You’ll be surprised if you find that they offer the same quality. Try to make some comparison between different products and see which one strikes the balance between quality and price tag.

Try your grocery-branded items for certain items

Sometimes, there really is a significant difference between products of different brands, and people with discriminating preferences can make the distinction between those items. However, there are common household items such as cleaning and bathroom products that you can get for less—and they are grocery-branded products. Applicable to most non-food items in the market, grocery brands are items sold by supermarkets bearing their brand, which means that they are either produced by the company or repacked as cheaper alternatives. Since they are cheaper than branded items, you might want to give them a try and see the difference.

(Check out: Do You Actually Save Money When Buying Counterfeit Goods? Here Are The Real Reasons Why You Actually Don’t)

Change your supermarket too, if possible

Supermarkets have different pricing guidelines, which means that some may offer cheaper prices than others. If you feel like your regular shopping center is conning you, try to switch stores and see if there are significant variances with pricing on your usual grocery items. If there is a wide difference, then make the switch. However, keep in mind factors such as proximity and convenience since these should be taken into consideration in selecting your preferred supermarket.

It’s easy to save money in everything you do, even with shopping. What’s important is we as shoppers take proactive steps in making sure that we get maximum savings in all our actions.