First there were paper coupons, then came the print-at-home and digital coupons. Now a wave of smartphone apps, including Checkout 51, Ibotta and Snap by Groupon, allow you to take a photo of your receipt from the grocery store to earn cash back on certain items without clipping coupons. Another app, ReceiptHog, rewards users for uploading their receipts rather than rewarding them for purchasing specific products.
One key benefit of these apps (excluding ReceiptHog) is that they offer savings not available from traditional coupons, especially in the meat and produce departments. “You can get herb salads, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, mangos, even 50 cents off milk,” says Teri Gault, CEO of grocery savings website TheGroceryGame.com.
The apps also offer savings on national brand products, but Phil Lempert, editor of consumer and retail information website SupermarketGuru.com, doesn’t see them replacing paper coupons, at least not for older consumers. “For the millennial generation and Generation Z, absolutely it will replace the paper coupon,” he says. “For baby boomers, probably not because [they have already] formed habits.”
And as Gault points out, savings apps only offer a few dozen deals at a time, while coupons from other sources provide deals on thousands of different products. Another drawback is that traditional coupons offer instant savings at the register, but these apps require you to wait until you’ve accumulated a certain dollar amount before cashing out and requesting a check or PayPal transfer ($20 for Snap by Groupon and Checkout 51). Until you reach that threshold, you won’t reap those savings.
Despite these limitations, budget-conscious, mobile-savvy consumers like Gretchen Lindow, founder of Retiredby40blog.com, love these apps. If you’d like to give them a try, follow these tips to help maximize your savings.
Go beyond groceries. While the apps focus on food items such as produce, crackers and cereal, some also offer savings on other items, including diapers, alcohol, hygiene products, medicine, cosmetics and household cleaners. The Ibotta app only accepts receipts from certain stores, but Checkout 51 and Snap by Groupon allow you to upload receipts from any store for most offers. Checkout 51 also accepts receipts from any online retailer, and Ibotta accepts online purchases from its list of eligible brick-and-mortar stores.
Check the fine print. Some offers are fairly broad (for instance, “$1 off any loaf of bread”), while others require you to buy a specific product in a specific size. Buy the trial or jumbo size instead of the one specified in the offer, and your account won’t get credited. Ditto on purchases that fall outside of the specified deal timeframe. Traditional coupons are usually good for several weeks or months, as Gault points out, but smartphone offers might be limited to a specific day or week. If you don’t want to keep track of the ins and outs, perhaps stick to one app or use your supermarket’s mobile app instead.
Upload receipts ASAP. Offers are available for a limited time, and some have a limited quantity. Popular Snap by Groupon offers can run out quickly, so Lindow checks her smartphone as she enters the store to make sure the offer is still available and uploads her receipt from her car after she checks out.
Also, make sure the image you upload of your receipt is clear and contains the entire receipt (you can upload long receipts in several segments). A blurry or cut-off receipt may mean you have to upload a new photo, so stash your receipts until they’re approved, which often takes 24 to 48 hours.
Don’t be afraid to double dip. You can generally get credited if you’re also using manufacturer coupons or in-store sales, so combine these offers as much as you can. Collecting points through a store loyalty card and a rewards credit card (especially one that offers extra rewards for grocery store purchases) can help you stretch your money even further.
If apps have overlapping offers (for instance, two apps offer savings on a gallon of milk in the same week), you can upload your receipt to both apps and potentially earn money on the purchase. Lindow says her local Aldi’s in St. Louis typically sells bread for less than a dollar, but she’s used an offer for $1 off any loaf of bread to earn $1 cash back even though the price of the item was less than $1.
Compare prices on similar items. As Lempert points out, “just because you have a coupon for it or it’s on your mobile phone doesn’t mean it’s the cheapest. You might find that the store brand is less expensive.” If that’s the case, you’re better off buying a store-brand item instead of uploading a receipt and waiting for cash back.
Plan meals around current offers. Saving money on kale does you no good if those greens go to waste, so only buy items you’ll actually use. Lindow says her family might plan a tomato-centric dish that week if she found an offer for tomatoes. The same applies whether you’re shopping with coupons, mobile apps or a grocery store’s sales.
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Grocery Receipt Scanning Apps You Should Try originally appeared on usnews.com
