<div>This Black Friday, you won’t find me charging into stores at the crack of dawn in search of supposed bargains. That’s because often the best prices for many products aren’t found on this famous shopping day. Instead, I plan to buy from the comfort of my couch, with the help of apps that tell me the optimal time to purchase things I want.<br /><br />Such apps include Nifti, a price-tracking program that is free for iOS devices. Nifti monitors the prices of all sorts of goods in well-known stores.<br /><br />To use it, find something you want to buy in the app’s catalog, click “track,” and the app will monitor prices at different outlets and send an alert when the price drops to a figure you’ve chosen. You can also see the item’s price history to help gauge whether the current price is a deal. Some items can then be bought directly on your phone; Nifti will redirect you to the store’s website.<br /><br />Nifti also presents preselected deals that the app has identified in each store. It displays these in an image-heavy list, where an icon indicates information such as whether the discount is being advertised by the store.<br /><br />Nifti is a pleasure to use overall, but the search function can sometimes feel awkward and the results don’t necessarily show enough information to help shoppers make good choices. <br /><br />An alternative to Nifti is ShopSavvy, a deals app that is free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. ShopSavvy has two main functions. First, it can scan a product’s bar code and search online to find typical prices for the item. This helps shoppers who are considering buying something in a store to determine if the price being advertised is really a bargain.<br /><br />Second, ShopSavvy has a curated sales section where it lists discounts being offered by stores like Macy’s, Wal-Mart and Fry’s Electronics. You can browse this list to find deals that interest you, and see at a glance whether a particular deal is available online or only in-store.<br /><br />Type in search terms like “Galaxy S6,” and you’ll get information including which retailers have a deal on the item. When you’re ready to buy, tap on the item in ShopSavvy to be taken to the retailer’s online store to complete your purchase. <br /><br />ShopSavvy’s bright, cheerful and easy-to-use interface makes shopping fun. You may return to this app to browse on a more regular basis than to Nifti because ShopSavvy’s price-tracking function is not automated. <br /><br />Slice is a different kind of deals app: Instead of advising you of coming promotions, it’s meant to keep track of your previous purchases in case the price of something you recently bought gets slashed. At that point, you may be eligible for a refund.<br /><br />Slice tries to automate the process of tracking your purchases by scanning your email for details like tracking numbers and prices. It can use this information to track the location of incoming deliveries through popular couriers like DHL and UPS. The app recently added an Apple Watch extension so you can see delivery updates on your wrist. The app has a straightforward interface and earns positive reviews, but some users note that the automated email scanning can fail.<br /><br />And don’t forget Pinterest, the digital bulletin board app, which connects to a long list of online retailers. You can set up alerts on items you’ve “pinned” to a wish list to find out if the prices drop. <br /><br /></div>
<div>This Black Friday, you won’t find me charging into stores at the crack of dawn in search of supposed bargains. That’s because often the best prices for many products aren’t found on this famous shopping day. Instead, I plan to buy from the comfort of my couch, with the help of apps that tell me the optimal time to purchase things I want.<br /><br />Such apps include Nifti, a price-tracking program that is free for iOS devices. Nifti monitors the prices of all sorts of goods in well-known stores.<br /><br />To use it, find something you want to buy in the app’s catalog, click “track,” and the app will monitor prices at different outlets and send an alert when the price drops to a figure you’ve chosen. You can also see the item’s price history to help gauge whether the current price is a deal. Some items can then be bought directly on your phone; Nifti will redirect you to the store’s website.<br /><br />Nifti also presents preselected deals that the app has identified in each store. It displays these in an image-heavy list, where an icon indicates information such as whether the discount is being advertised by the store.<br /><br />Nifti is a pleasure to use overall, but the search function can sometimes feel awkward and the results don’t necessarily show enough information to help shoppers make good choices. <br /><br />An alternative to Nifti is ShopSavvy, a deals app that is free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. ShopSavvy has two main functions. First, it can scan a product’s bar code and search online to find typical prices for the item. This helps shoppers who are considering buying something in a store to determine if the price being advertised is really a bargain.<br /><br />Second, ShopSavvy has a curated sales section where it lists discounts being offered by stores like Macy’s, Wal-Mart and Fry’s Electronics. You can browse this list to find deals that interest you, and see at a glance whether a particular deal is available online or only in-store.<br /><br />Type in search terms like “Galaxy S6,” and you’ll get information including which retailers have a deal on the item. When you’re ready to buy, tap on the item in ShopSavvy to be taken to the retailer’s online store to complete your purchase. <br /><br />ShopSavvy’s bright, cheerful and easy-to-use interface makes shopping fun. You may return to this app to browse on a more regular basis than to Nifti because ShopSavvy’s price-tracking function is not automated. <br /><br />Slice is a different kind of deals app: Instead of advising you of coming promotions, it’s meant to keep track of your previous purchases in case the price of something you recently bought gets slashed. At that point, you may be eligible for a refund.<br /><br />Slice tries to automate the process of tracking your purchases by scanning your email for details like tracking numbers and prices. It can use this information to track the location of incoming deliveries through popular couriers like DHL and UPS. The app recently added an Apple Watch extension so you can see delivery updates on your wrist. The app has a straightforward interface and earns positive reviews, but some users note that the automated email scanning can fail.<br /><br />And don’t forget Pinterest, the digital bulletin board app, which connects to a long list of online retailers. You can set up alerts on items you’ve “pinned” to a wish list to find out if the prices drop. <br /><br /></div>