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Leonard asked: “Is there an app out there that can compare shopping for different items? Like when you go to a store for an item, but find it cheaper somewhere else?”
There are a lot of apps that can help you shop around on the go. Many even have a barcode scanner built in to make it easier.
You can try RedLaser, which will scan an article’s barcode and search for it on many stores online and display a price for each.
If you don’t need it right now you can try ShopSavvy, it’s works a little differently, you tell it what you want to buy and it will alert you when the price goes down so you can get it at a discount. It may not help you compare exactly, but once you have the price you can expect to pay ShopSavvy helps you hold out until the price drops.
Smoopa may be closer to what you’re looking for, it will allow you to scan the item at the store and give you a green button if that store has the cheapest price around.
The Find should help you compare prices too, but it will only compare prices with online and local stores, so it won’t tell you “you can find this cheaper in Maui” when you’re shopping in Milwaukee.
An app that combines searching both online stores and stores in your local area is Purchx (formerly Consumr). Much like the others, you scan the barcode and Purchx compares prices at both online retailers and local retailers in your vicinity.
Purchx also emphasizes the reviews from their community of users. In fact, if you review products and your reviews are tagged as being useful by other users of the app, you can earn points and get ranked on their reviewer leaderboard. (Hey, it’s a shopping video game! How about that?)
And don’t forget that Amazon.com’s app includes a barcode scanner so you can easily check the price on the online retailing giant. It saves a lot of time in trying to thumb type the item you’re looking for. Just open the Amazon app and you’ll see the option for scanning a barcode.