Amazon, Flipkart sales: 7 things to keep in mind before shopping

Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days sales have begun well ahead of the festive season with the e-commerce giants offering exciting deals and discounts on products across various categories. Several sellers with a presence on these sites are raking in the big moolah amid the ongoing sale season showcasing pent-up demand from consumers across the country. Amid the barrage of jaw-dropping offers on consumer electronics such as mobiles, laptops, TV sets, headphones, speakers and what not, one might get overwhelmed and fall prey to tricky deceptions. What should a customer do before hitting buy? Here are seven key factors one must consider before buying products during online sales:-

1. Have a budget and stick to it

All sales, be it festive or otherwise, are full of tactically executed tricks and strategies to lure consumers into buying things they don't need. Therefore, it is highly crucial for a customer to have an expenditure plan ready and prioritise products they need to buy. One must not be in a hurry to hoard (products) and stick to his/her budget.

2. Compare products before purchasing

One must compare products available in multiple price ranges. There's a possibility that products that are being offered with heavy discounts also have low quality.

3. Check EMI offers

This is crucial for buyers as e-commerce platforms often fool customers with EMI (equated monthly installment) pay preference. With no cost-EMI option, customers instantly get ready to buy a highly priced product. Customers think they are not paying any interest and have achieved the right deal, but that's not the case. Thus, even if you feel, you aren't paying any interest, you end up doing so. To avoid such gimmickry of these shopping sales, you should check the prices on original websites.

4. Check shipping costs

It is advisable to check the shipping cost of your orders as most of the time the free-delivery cost is for premium customers and not for the generic ones.

5. Apply maths on offers like "buy 2 get 1 free"

To avail of such kinds of offers, make sure that the least expensive product is as close as possible in monetary value to either of the expensive ones. The rationale behind "Buy 2 get 1 free" is that the customer gets a cheaper one for free, and the seller gains the full value of all three products at the price of two.

6. Take advantage of online features

Try to take full advantage of cashback, coins, and other virtual shopping advantages.

7. Calculate bank offers properly

Bank offers become crucial while purchasing any product as they may reduce the price of your shopping list considerably.

Also read: Over 1.1 lakh Amazon sellers received orders in first 48 hours of festive sale

Also read: Big Billion Days: Over 70 sellers become crorepatis in first 3 days of sale