Love to Shop Online? Get Rewarded for It With These 5 Apps

E-commerce has become an integral part of life for most Singaporeans. Not only do almost three-quarters of Singaporean users between the ages of 16 and 64 already shop online", but Singaporeans also spend the most in the Southeast Asian region on consumer goods, totalling to a collective S$5.7 billion in purchases. If you’re an online shopper, you’ll sometimes find yourself waiting for promo codes or sales before checking out those items you’ve saved in your cart. However, there are tools to reduce your spending even when discount codes aren’t available. If you’re wondering which tools you can use to help you save more on your purchases, we’ve rounded up 5 money-saving apps that give you a small return of your spending.

1. Shopback

With over 5 million members on its platform, Shopback is probably the most widely used cashback reward program in the Asia-Pacific. Founded in 2014, Shopback is available in 7 countries. It's partnered with more than 1300 brands from all over the world, including ASOS, Amazon, Alibaba, to name a few. The brands offer between 2% to 10% cashback for goods and services including travel sites like Agoda, Booking.com and Expedia. Once you’ve accumulated more than S$10 of cashback on the site, you can withdraw it directly to your bank account. On top of cashback, the site and app also provides promo codes and discount coupons from time to time. By making full use of Shopback, you’ll get a sense of satisfaction seeing how much cashback you’ve accumulated over time.

2. Rebatemango

If you travel often and you’re looking for ways to accumulate air miles, Rebatemango would be useful for you. Similar to Shopback, Rebatemango gives you cashback on purchases from its partner brands and merchants. However, the difference between Rebatemango and Shopback is that the cashback on Rebatemango can also be converted into air miles from AirAsia, KrisFlyer, Royal Orchid Plus or even GrabRewards points. You can enjoy discounts from goods and services ranging from fashion, electronics, health & fitness, travel, groceries and more. In addition to cashback, you’ll earn points for every time you shop, which can be accumulated to give you a total of 10% more rewards or cashback. For instance, every S$1 spent will earn you 5 points. In order to enjoy a 10% additional cashback, you’ll have to gather 25,000 points.

3. Eatigo

Eating out in restaurants in Singapore is quite expensive, however you can make use of Eatigo for a significant discount on your bill. The restaurant reservation platform that offers up to 50% discounts on dining at 700 restaurants in Singapore, ranging from casual eateries to fine dining. As the discounts offered are time-based, some reservations can only be made during off-peak hours between 3-5pm. However, most restaurants will offer between 10% to 60% discounts during lunch time from 12pm to 2pm or dinner time from 6pm to 9.30pm, while others offer all-day discounts. The app can be used in several countries in Asia including Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia so you can enjoy discounts on dining even when you’re on vacation.

4. Fave

Couponing can be fun, especially when you see a bargain that you can’t resist. But doing that virtually is no less satisfying. Formerly Groupon Singapore, Fave offers discounts on food, shopping, travel, massage, and beauty treatments with coupon style deals. Services that give the biggest cashback value are food, beauty and massage, with some merchants offering up to a 92% discount. The app also includes a QR-code scanning payment system called FavePay. Linked to your credit/debit card, FavePay gives you up to 50% cashback when you use it to pay when shopping in over 10,000 physical stores in Singapore and Malaysia.

5. Fuzzie

Sometimes, it can be difficult coming up with ideas for gifts that won’t end up as clutter, but Fuzzie seems to solve this problem. Launched in 2015, Fuzzie is a mobile gifting platform that sells virtual gift cards that can be sent to anyone using the web and mobile app. The gift cards can be redeemed from over 100 online and physical partner merchants, including fashion, dining, food delivery, home furnishing, spa, staycations, and entertainment. Every gift card comes with a range of values displaying the cashback amount you’ll instantly receive after purchasing it. For instance, you can purchase a gift card between S$10 to S$100, and earn up to S$20 cashback on the highest value gift card. You can withdraw the cashback directly to your bank account or store it in-app for future purchases. Not only are you able to gift your friends and family something practical and useful on special occasions, you can also save money at the same time.

Maximising Your Rewards Through Apps

Even though a few of these apps work on similar concepts, the cashback percentage or discounts offered by the same merchants on the apps may differ. For instance, Shopback currently offers a 3% cashback from Adidas while it’s 4.5% on Rebatemango. Before making your purchases, you should compare the cashback or discounts from the same merchants on different apps and pick the one with the bigger cashback amount. Also, take note of special events, shopping campaigns, holiday sales like Black Friday or Cyber Monday and secret deals for upsized discounts. To save even more money on top of these apps, combine your purchases with in-store promos and discounts, or stack your discounts with a shopping credit card that gives you rewards or cashback.