High-tech shopping tools

Whether you shop online or at the mall, new technology can lead you to bargains

Shopping on the Internet has its advantages: You can quickly comparison shop for anything, at any time of day, without leaving home. Still, many shoppers prefer to buy at a retail store, where they can see and feel the merchandise before they purchase it and where gifts can be easily returned.

You can combine the best of both worlds by taking advantage of a growing number of Web-based tools that can help you find bargains online and at the shopping mall or big-box store. We hit the Web sites of the 100 largest retailers to find the best new tools for any bargain hunter.

E-mail sale alerts

What are they?

Your favorite stores send you e-mail messages about sales, limited-time offers, and clearance updates, often before the general public hears about them. You might also get exclusive discounts, sign-up coupons, promotional codes for online savings, and notices of private sales open only to customers on the e-mail list.

How you use them

Easy. Sign up at the store's Web site and check your In box.

Who has them?

Most retailers of every stripe, including Ann Taylor, Bebe, Bed Bath & Beyond, Big Lots, Bloomingdale's, Coach, Costco, Dillard's, Express, Filene's Basement, Neiman Marcus, Nine West, Nordstrom, Old Navy, Saks, Sears, Target, and Williams-Sonoma.

Pros and caveats

Some retailers offer enticements to sign up. In June 2009, Neiman Marcus entered new enrollees in a drawing for a $5,000 Manolo Blahnik shopping spree; at Saks, you could have won a summer wardrobe. Filene's Basement "Fan Club" members get 20 percent off one item, notice of special events, and new arrivals. But you might want to limit the number of alerts you sign up for to avoid a cluttered In box.

Retailer Web-site specials

What are they?

Weekly specials available in stores or online are posted on each store's Web site.

How you use them

Start at iStorez.com for access to hundreds of retailers. Click "Stores and Brands" on the Web site's toolbar for a directory of retailers, with links to each store's specials. Click through to shop online at the store.

Or you can go directly to a store's Web site and search for sales and promotions.

Who has them?

Virtually all retailers.

Pros and caveats

iStorez.com makes searching for your store a snap. But starting directly at a retailer Web site has its advantages too. For example, the Nine West site lets you preorder new styles before they're in stores.

RSS feeds

What are they?

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, allows retailers to send Web pages with news about sales and promotions directly to your PC. Wal-Mart has multiple feeds for each department, including price rollbacks, clearance, new arrivals, store exclusives, and upcoming music and video release dates. iStorez.com also provides RSS feeds of weekly ads and specials, ongoing sales, and coupons.

How you use them

First you need an RSS reader. Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has one built in. So do personal home pages like My Yahoo, My AOL, and iGoogle. You can download free RSS reader software, such as FeedDemon or FeedReader, which helps you to manage your subscriptions.

Once you set up your reader, you can subscribe to various feeds by visiting the retailer Web sites and following the RSS instructions there. The feeds will then be automatically sent to your PC, where you click on them for reading.

Who has them?

Best Buy, CompUSA, Overstock.com, RadioShack, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart.

Pros and caveats

They're a convenient way to skim through lots of sales. But too many feeds can cause information overload.

Widgets

What are they?

Widgets are store icons that you place on your PC desktop or embed on your personal Web page. Click on them to access the stores' specials.

How you use them

Download a widget from a retailer Web site and click on the menu options. Some widgets can be installed on your iGoogle or Yahoo home page. The Sears Desktop Alert widget is customized and dedicated to the nation's No. 6 retailer.

Who has them?

We found them only at Sears.

Pros and caveats

The Sears price-drop alert lets you keep an eye on deals at a big retailer without the disruption of e-mails. But they're not widely used right now and are still evolving.

Cell-phone sale alerts

What are they?

If you're always on the go, you can have text messages about sales sent to your cell phone. Or you can shop online with a Web-enabled cell phone.

How you use them

Sign up at the retailer Web site by providing your name, e-mail address, and cell-phone number.

Who has them?

Century 21 Department Store, Sears, and Urban Outfitters offer cell-phone alerts. Amazon.com and Overstock.com let you shop by Web phone. And while you're shopping in one store, FruCall.com lets you check prices at many others before you buy. You can also call up Consumer Reports Ratings on products on your cell phone using ShopSmart Mobile. (For information, go to our Shop Smart page.)

Pros and caveats

They are as portable as your cell phone. But if the idea takes off, limit yourself to one or two so the messages don't get annoying.

Browser plug-ins/add-ons

What are they?

An application sits silently in the background of your browser. But when you shop online at one of the participating retailers, up pop competing stores' prices.

How you use them

Go to PriceAdvance.com and download the plug-in if you have the Internet Explorer browser or the add-on for the FireFox browser. When we found a Sharp 46-inch LCD HDTV for $1,434 at Sears.com, the PriceAdvance window popped up and showed the same TV for $1,420 at Buy.com and $1,380 at Amazon.com.

Who has them?

They work for Amazon.com, Abt.com, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, Comp USA, EB Games, JR.com, Mwave.com, NewEgg.com, Sears.com, Target.com, TechDepot.com, TigerDirect.com, Walmart.com, and more than 130 other retailers.

Pros and caveats

They're a simple way to compare prices on the same product, store to store. But we found that PriceAdvance information was not always up to date. So you need to click through to each retailer's Web site to make sure you get accurate price comparisons.

This article was also published in Consumer Reports Money Adviser. Subscribe now to get more expert financial advice you can trust.