10 Tips To survive The Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) Frenzy!

With the increasing frenzy and surge in online shopping festivals, various e-commerce websites provide unbelievable discounts and offers. But there is always a confusion risk involved. How do you ensure that you are getting the best bargains? How do you make the most of online shopping frenzy?

Sameer Parwani, founder and CEO of CouponDunia, shares few tips that can help you survive online shopping frenzy as well as save money during Google’s Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF)—a three-day long shopping festival that is happening between December 10-12, 2014. Take a look!

1. Do your research well: Research is the foundation for smart buying decisions. The better prepared you are with your research, the more you stand a chance to strike the best deal—especially if you are buying expensive items like laptops, mobiles, home furniture, etc. Always have a clear idea of which brand and model you want. These aren’t impulse purchases, so you need to do your research ahead of time

2. Sign up and registrations: Make sure that you register yourself at all the major shopping sites. Do not waste time filling in your shipping details when you could be buying on GOSF days! The best deals will go quick. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to browse around a bunch of e-commerce sites that you might shop from on GOSF in advance; this way you’ll be familiar with the website and would know how to find what you want and quickly.

3. Banking details: Just like all other details, make sure you fill in your credit/debit card details beforehand. Also check your debit balance and credit limits. It would be an epic failure if you are not able to shop just because you forgot to pay down your balance.

4. Sizes are always a problem: If you are buying clothes online, be aware that your size will vary from site to site. So, it’s a better idea to keep a list of your size per site handy. Even better, order in multiple sizes and take advantage of free returns (wherever allowed). For furniture, measure your space ahead of time so that you can get stuff like cool bar stools from Pepperfry or frames from Poster gully. Nothing frustrates you like buying something and realising it doesn’t fit.

5. Wishlists are a must: Have your wish-lists ready in each category. People get side-tracked and stuck in the same category and miss out on other things. Make sure you have a priority list across categories and keep switching between categories. It will help narrow down and focus your shopping efforts; and there’s a higher probability you will get more things.

6. Planning: GOSF is a brilliant time to shop in advance for those occasions where you’ll need to gift: birthdays, wedding anniversaries, showers, bachelorette parties, Christmas, New Year’s…bring it on! Make two lists: one with generic, good quality gifts that can be gifted at any time of the year. And a second list of gifts for loved ones and their eccentric tastes. You’ll be able to find some awesome gifts (without spending a fortune) simply by buying their favourite things in advance!

7. Keep yourself updated: Maximize advance alerts. Now is a good time to sign-up for email alerts from your favorite retailer and follow their social media platforms. Download their mobile apps so you receive their push notifications with offers. Also, check out the plethora of GOSF guide sites that will invariably spring up and subscribe to the relevant and trustworthy mailing lists to get daily updates of the best offers-to-come. Figure out the one you like and trust, and then stick with it.

8. Policies check: Check return and exchange policies. Site policy can change for GOSF deals. Make sure you know what the return and exchange policy is for the product you’re buying. Determine if a return is even possible. Be alert to merchandise sold as a “final sale” item. Remember to keep the receipts, purchase order and delivery package in case you need to return the item.

9. Shop Smart: Take advantage of the GOSF Rs 299 corner where you will be able to find products that usually sell from Rs 500–2,000 being sold for Rs 299 only! You’ll get free shipping and COD on top also.

10. Patience is the KEY: Be patient. Don’t get frustrated. There will be glitches, there will be crashes, and there will be frozen check-out pages. The biggest disappointment of all, some of the best deals will go off even before you are able to buy them. In such situations, keep calm and continue shopping. It’s not realistic to expect to be able to snag every amazing deal, so stay calm and move on to the next thing in your list. [Tip: Have coffee ready on the side and if you must vent, keep Twitter handy on a separate tab.]

This article is written by Sameer Parwani, CEO-CouponDunia, which is a leading coupon website and a subsidiary of Times Internet (TIL).