The Best and Worst Days To Shop Online for Deals
Online shopping makes it easy to overspend — but it can also help you save if you’re strategic. It's much easier to comparison shop online than to visit multiple stores to compare prices and it also makes it easy to apply promo and coupon codes.
However, new data shows that when you shop matters just as much as where. Research from SimplyCodes identified the best and worst days of the week to shop online if you want to score deals.
Here's what you need to know before checking out your online cart.
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Friday Is the Best Day To Shop Online for Deals
Compared to the other days of the week, Friday has a slight edge on discount quality, the research found. The share of promo codes offering 20% off or more is highest on Fridays, with about 30% of available codes offering these significant discounts.
"Friday is the only day of the week when the median discount climbs to 15% off," said Jimmy Doheny, director of operations at SimplyCodes. "It sits at 10% off every other day."
Fridays are the typical days when retailers launch weekend-specific flash sales and limited-time codes.
"Those promotions tend to be more aggressive discounts designed to create urgency," Doheny said. "The trade-off is that those fresh weekend codes haven't been as thoroughly tested yet, so you're more likely to encounter one that doesn't work. You're getting first crack at the best discounts of the week, but with a slightly higher chance of a dud."
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Saturday Is the Worst Day To Shop Online for Discounts
You might be tempted to shop and scroll when you're bored on the weekend, but research shows that Saturday is actually the worst day to shop online if you want to score discounts with promo codes. This is due to the way that retailers release their promotions and discounts.
"Retailers tend to follow a two-cycle promotional rhythm — weekly codes often launch Monday or Tuesday, then weekend flash sales typically go live on Friday," said Doheny. "By Saturday, both cycles are working against you. The weekday codes are days old and Friday's flash deals are already expiring."
Saturday consistently ranks last or near-last across every metric SimplyCodes tracks.
"It has the weakest share of strong discounts, with just 27.6% of codes offering 20% off or better," Doheny said.
If you're planning to shop over the weekend, the data shows that Sunday is the better bet.
"Codes tested on Sunday pass at the highest rate of any day," Doheny said.
How To Save Money Shopping Online Any Day of the Week
The day does matter when you're shopping online, but there are things you can do any time of the week to improve your odds of scoring a discount. Here's what Doheny recommends.
Start by checking how many codes a retailer actually has. "The typical merchant has just two, so if there's only one or two available, try them quickly and move on rather than spending time searching for something that doesn't exist."
Try the most recently added code first, since newer codes are far more likely to work than ones that have been sitting around for weeks. "On SimplyCodes, codes are sorted by health and recency, so the top code on a merchant's page is usually your best bet."
Don't assume a "sitewide" code works on everything. "Our data shows many codes marketed as sitewide still carry hidden restrictions, like brand exclusions or minimum purchase requirements."
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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