It doesn’t have to be a completely miserable experience, though … the shopping in stores “physically”, that is. We can also get a helping hand from technology in a number of ways. Here are some tips for shoppers carrying Android phones. Most of these tips should work on non-Android phones as well if you know the corresponding apps.
Make Sure You Pay With the Right Card When Making an NFC Payment
Tap & pay is wonderful but some banks such as the Royal Bank of Canada aren’t supported by Google Pay. In some cases they offer their own payment app solution. If you have Google pay set as your default Tap & pay app you simply need to unlock your device and hold your phone near a payment terminal in order to complete a payment. If you want to use a wallet app from your bank, you should enable the Foreground priority option under the Tap & pay menu of your phone. You will find these options with the NFC settings menu. The exact way to get to this option will vary depending on which phone and which version of Android you’re using. Enabling this option forces your phone to use the open payment app over the default app so you can simply open your alternative wallet app and tap away.
Store Your Loyalty Cards On Your Phone
Various stores will offer loyalty cards to customers which allow them to reap rewards such as the ability to purchase a certain amount of goods depending on the amount of points gathered from previous purchases. This process usually works by scanning the barcode of the loyalty card. After scanning their items a certain amount of points are assigned to the shopper’s account based on criteria determined by the vendor. People don’t only shop at one place, however, and many stores give out loyalty cards so it becomes quite easy to collect a stack of these. In many instances the potential deals that can be had from collecting enough points makes it worth having them. Luckily, you have the option of storing these loyalty cards on your phone. In addition to allowing you to make contactless payments, Google Pay also lets you add your loyalty cards in the app as well. This allows for a one app solution for the matter of making payments and getting rewards when shopping. You can add cards simply by scanning their barcodes. Download Google Pay Another option for storing your loyalty cards which work well is UGO Wallet. It also allows you to store receipts within the app. Download UGO Wallet
Say Goodbye to Paper Flyers
Don’t get me wrong, you can find a lot of great deals in paper flyers but these can be bulky sometimes and they take up space. You might also not be able to locate one when you’re looking for deals. This is where electronic flyers come in. There are actually entire apps dedicated to this. Flipp allows customers in the US and Canada to look for deals from stores in their area. What’s especially neat about the app is that it let’s you input your shopping list and let’s you search for deals that way. You can also get rebates and purchases through Flipp. Moreover you can even add your loyalty card. This is quite a powerful tool and is definitely worth checking out. Download Flipp
Keep Your Shopping List on Your Phone
We have probably all been in the situation where we made a shopping list only to forget to bring it to the store. However, have you ever forgotten to take your phone anywhere? The answer is probably no and if you did, you probably immediately went back to collect it. Since we are so attached to our phones, we should keep our shopping lists on them. Shopping lists help us to stay focused on what we really need, saving us money and time. You don’t have to have a fancy app on your phone to make your shopping list. Something like Google Keep will suffice. Download Google Keep
Empower Yourself While Shopping
I urge you to arm yourself with the tips offered here as well as any others which you know will help to improve your shopping experience. Do not leave yourself at the mercy of vendors. Educate yourself and use tools like those mentioned above to make your experience better. You will probably save money and time by doing so.
