Shop More While Spending Less with DealsPlus

Whether you’re shopping for a new television set, baby toys, a crockpot, or the perfect shade of lipstick, it’s always more fun when you can snag a great discount in the process. Thanks to DealsPlus, an online community of bargain hunters launched in 2006, racking up savings on everything from the products you buy every day to special gifts, travel, and event tickets can become a regular occurrence.

RewardExpert spoke with Ivy Chou, content marketing manager at DealsPlus, about the resources the community offers and how you can make the most of them to shop more while spending less.

Created by Bargain Hunters for Frugal Shoppers

When the U.S. housing market bubble burst back in 2006, the cofounders of DealsPlus—Kiha Lee, Greg Kim, and Heeji Kim—realized that there was one thing that almost everyone in the nation had in common: a desire to save money. Though Americans still wanted to shop, many could no longer afford regular retail prices. These consumers had to spend a great deal of time searching for the best deals in order to maintain their budgets.

DealsPlus was created to give bargain hunters a place to share their money-saving finds—whether that be a great discount on a designer bag, a killer offer on the latest smartphone, or serious savings on clothing, accessories, beauty products, furniture, outdoor gear and more.

“After they started it, the community really took off on its own,” Chou said. “People loved sharing the deals they found.”

To date, DealsPlus members have shared more than 2.5 million deals and close to 300,000 coupons from over 15,000 stores. The DealsPlus website receives more than seven million visitors every month, and the company has grown from a tiny start-up to a thriving organization with offices in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Korea.

Find and Add Deals, Plus Vote for Favorites

“I seriously have not paid retail on clothing or shoes in forever,” Chou said when explaining why she’s a DealsPlus member. “It’s really helpful, and I love that.”

Shoppers can join for free on the community website or using the DealsPlus app for Android or iPhone. “We mostly cater to families and college students,” Chou said. “I’d say more of our shoppers are women than men because women probably shop more and manage more of the family finances.”

While the home page of the site is dedicated to hand-picked deals, shoppers can quickly filter the offerings by category or use the search tool to find coupons and money-saving sales for specific stores. “We find the best deals and coupons for you for all of your favorite stores so that you don’t have to go and do all those price comparisons yourself,” Chou added.

Members can add coupons and deals of their own as well as vote on those uploaded by others—earning points in the process. “Points gamify the website,” she said. “They show people how much they’ve contributed. We’re currently thinking about some exciting new things we can do with that.”

Chou’s Best Deal-Hunting Tips

To save the most money in the least amount of time using DealsPlus resources, Chou recommends signing up for the site’s customized email alerts. “You will only receive overs for the stores you actually want offers from,” she said. “I personally only subscribe to Amazon, Bath and Body Works, Macy’s and Sephora. I check the website for the best deals of the day, but I only receive email alerts for coupons at the stores I love.”

She also suggests doing most of your shopping over major holidays. “Every major holiday, we create a full list of all the best deals on one page,” she explained. “I find those super helpful and try to only shop over major holidays like Labor Day and Columbus Day to maximize my savings.”

Major holidays include Black Friday and Cyber Monday, of course. While you can find Black Friday deals on DealsPlus, the company also runs a companion website, www.blackfriday.fm, focused entirely on the most popular shopping day of the year. “You’ll find all the Black Friday ads, sales information, and store hours,” said Chou. “It’s definitely worth checking out.”

Finally, Chou urges bargain-hunters to check out the DealsPlus blog for shopping news, hacks, and tricks. “We have writers who specialize in frugal living, saving, travel tips and stuff like that,” she said. “You’ll find pretty interesting stories there.”