You work hard, you have a strict and busy schedule to keep you afloat amongst the deadlines, expectations and responsibilities of modern life. Then the holiday season strikes and now there’s more pressure on your time and money than ever, perhaps you might even consider a nice relaxing divorce to calm yourself down. Looking to reduce the amount of time you need to spend Christmas shopping, hundreds of sites and apps claim they have the insider knowledge to get you the best possible deals, but how do they stack up? I had a look into an exhausting number of Christmas shopping apps and here’s a rundown of the apps that stood out from the crowd.
HotUKDeals
You may well have already heard of HotUKDeals, the popular British hub of discounts, vouchers and reductions, but you may not realise just how successful its companion app is. With over a million downloads on Android devices alone, HotUKDeals is among the biggest money-saving apps for UK shoppers. Deals are user-submitted, so there’s a steady stream of savings at all times of the day from across the internet. Because of this, I found it hard to find specifics but the variety on offer was hard to argue with. The most popular deals on display are tech and electronics savings, but there are other categories if you do some digging.
Black Friday
Cutting straight to the chase, the Black Friday app is looking to help shoppers through the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush and beyond. Ran by Latest Deals, which is seemingly run by a much smaller but fiercely loyal community of bargain hunters, you’ll see plenty of crossover between these two apps. Despite having a much smaller following compared to its competitor, I found this app much more streamlined and easily accessible. The app lets you search the various categories, but it also lets you scroll through different British retailers like Argos and Currys alongside the bigger online shops like Amazon.
Ashleigh
Money saving website Ashleigh has launched a much more specialised experience for Christmas shoppers. Releasing an app designed specifically for their audience, this app presents a much more interesting way to shop. Splitting into categories including Ashleigh Home, Kids and Plus Size, the app targets working mums without the time to sift through page after page of Black Friday deals. I found the app simple to use, but it isn’t without its bugs. As the newest app of the three, I experienced a number of issues that I expect to be ironed out fairly soon.
The verdict
When looking for help with your Christmas shopping, there are plenty of options to help streamline your online experience, and which app you should choose really depends on what you’re hoping to get out of your app. For me, the most accessible and straightforward option is Black Friday, as I found the ability to search specific retailers to be really helpful and the overall design of the app didn’t feel as overwhelming or intrusive as HotUKDeals. If you’re looking for a more helpful app for mums, I’d recommend giving Ashleigh a try so long as you take the glitches with a pinch of salt.
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