Monday 26 May 2008

We are all bargain hunters now

I was intrigued to read the FT (24th May 08) article Middle classes forced to go bargain hunting. A Hitwise survey had shown “a sharp jump in the number of searches for money-off vouchers, discount grocers and cheap holidays, as consumers ape their lower-paid cousins in an attempt to eke out the family finances”. Searches to ‘camping’ now exceeded searches for ‘villas’ for the first time. There has been a 155% jump in the number of visitors earning more the £50,000 to the UK website of discount grocers Lidl.

This struck a chord with me. The internet has made our family keen bargain hunters. Having established the product we want (either on the web or by doing the product research on the High Street) we always search for the best deal on line. The savings run from a few pounds to the £1000+ I saved on putting together a visit to the opera in Verona in late August.

But one of the greatest changes has been in the use of discount voucher sites like http://www.latestdiscountvouchers.co.uk/ Having established what we want to buy, where and at what price, we always check for a discount code before checking out. We never fail to get another 10% or more discount or at least free delivery.

As we have been doing this for some time, I can’t say that the economic downturn is the reason. Maybe the rest of the population is catching up with the Holways in the bargain hunting stakes.

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