Yesterday, my daughter and I were "rebate" shopping and picking up a few things in Walmart for dinner and such. I knew I needed Advil and a couple of other things. Once heading to the pain reliever section, I noticed that Motrin was on sale and it also had a rebate. This is not the item I am going to address but it is important to note that not only was I there for specific items but also that I do this in a specific manner. I do not typically deviate from the prescribed plan, otherwise, all the time and research would be for naught. Sticking to my plan I still got the Advil. However, in this case, the sale price was enough incentive to make me change my track and I returned to the aisle to exchange the choice. This brought me near the end of my shopping trip but since I had deviated from the original plan, my track towards the front end also changed and I happened upon an isle display of various health and beauty items that I mostly ignored as I often times see these as in the way. I hate to shop and almost always will have a list and plan upon entering a store. As I passed this display I noticed a 4 pack of white face cloths for $1.00. I actually needed these and realized I still had an any item rebate left. I purchased the washcloths that I otherwise would not have because of the product placement and sale price. There was no real signage relating this to a sale or anything. I would not have gone to housewares this trip and found these otherwise. So, does this fall into the channels for marketing and how these might have affected my purchase? I am not sure but I think it is an integral part of ways companies entice us to purchase things NOT on our list.

But, here is something to consider in the whole marketing realm and how we can use this to our advantage.When I speak of “Rebate Shopping” I speak of ways that I utilize this to my advantage.I use rebate and shopping apps.Some are Ibotta , Shopkick and Checkout 51. I wanted to share this with others and give some ideas on how these can even pay you to go shopping.The easiest, most lucrative one I like is Ibotta.I earned my first shopping card last week that paid for all my shopping plus I got rebates on the things I purchased. Shopkick offers “kicks” for not only purchases but also just for entering a store and scanning items. I sat on my smartphone and earned “kicks” just for visiting sites or viewing offers.

* All of this in the photo was FREE

My daughter and I began to think, how can we make this even better?The “ahhhh haaa” moment happened and we thought coupons. With this we can use a coupon, purchase items that are reduced or otherwise discounted or both, and still get the rebate.Some of the others may offer the same rebate and we use the same purchase for more than one rebate.This brings flashbacks of the show Extreme Couponing, but it works!

We often call these trips, "rebate shopping" or "ShopKickin"