When shopping for Christmas gifts, you may get lax on the deal-hunting front -- whether it's because you don't have time in your harried last-minute schedule, or because you don't want to sacrifice a present's thoughtfulness for a lower price tag. It can take a lot of time and energy to source flyers and run from sale rack to sale rack trying to find the perfect bargain, only to come up empty handed. But this is one area that Twitter -- the chatty web tool that broadcasts super-short updates to subscribers -- is incredibly good at. Its short-form format and instant delivery are perfectly suited to notifying you about price drops.
Twitter takes the hunting out of bargain-hunting: The deals are delivered to right to you, via your phone, Twitter client or web browser. (For those who haven't yet dipped their toes in the Twitter pool, check out this good step-by-step setup guide.) The best part is, most large retailers are aware of this, and have set up dedicated deal-alert accounts that you can subscribe to. We've collected the best in nine different categories for you, all from Canada. Set this up today, sit back and let the bargains flow in.
GENERAL
RedFlagDeals
The RedFlagDeals website has been the go-to resource for bargain hunters in Canada for years. Its 250,000 members post and rate deals from all across the country, in every conceivable category, from Armani clothes to IKEA furniture to Domino's Pizza. Their Twitter account will be one of the most valuable resources on anyone's list.
GENERAL - WOMEN'S
CoolCanucks
Classifying CoolCanucks as specifically a women's resource is misleading: You'll find plenty of deals on men's clothing, and things that are either traditionally geared towards men or gender-neutral. But because online bargain sites are often disproportionately filled with technology and electronics -- tech stores being early adopters of things like Twitter -- it's a breath of fresh air to see CoolCanucks place an emphasis on cosmetics, household goodies and stuff for moms. Often bests RedFlagDeals on number of updates and breadth of sources.
BOOKS AND MUSIC
IndigoDeals
The giant Canadian book-selling chain updates four or five times a day. There are plenty of specials, but they're mixed in with site updates (author Q&As, etc) and other store updates.
Amazon.ca
At first, we thought this Twitter feed was listing deals: It's certainly listing products, and a lot of 'em. But they don't seem to be on sale. And they're numbered, although they don't seem to be listed in any particular order. Our best guess was that some eager little robot was automatically pumping out the top ten sellers every hour -- and doing it so quickly that it was mixing up the order. But in some of the lists, numbers are repeated within the same hour. So have fun puzzling over what exactly this frantic little feed thinks its doing. And if you figure it out, please post a comment and share with the rest of the class. It'll ease our minds to know that it's not, for example, starting World War III with Matthew Broderick.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
HomeDepotCanada
Home Depot's "Hammer Drop" is the best name ever for a daily price cut. 'Nuff said.
DEPARTMENT STORE
SearsCA
The Hudsons Bay Company doesn't seem to have a Twitter account, so Sears wins the department-store battle by default. But even so, aside from plenty of deals here, SearsCA gets extra points for using Twitter for super-friendly personal support as well.
ELECTRONICS
BBYCanadaDeals (Best Buy) and fs_deals (Futureshop)
There's no shortage of places for Canadians to turn if they're seeking deals on computers and electronics (for those who like to shop online, see also NeweggCaDeals). But subscribe to these two feeds to prove to yourself that Best Buy and Futureshop are not, in fact, the same store. (We're still skeptical.)
VIDEO GAMES
Gamedealscanada
Gamedealscanada is a gamre's one-stop resource, consolidating the best deals on video games and accessories from Dell, Futureshop, Amazon, EBGames, and others.
CLOTHING
CanDeals
Again, technically this isn't a clothing-only feed -- it's general, and you'll find savings here on things from cat food to movie tickets. But the overwhelming majority of the deals listed are clothing-related. Updates come a little bit slower than most of the other sources on this list, but you can still expect a notification every of couple days.
CHEAPER THAN CHEAP
torontofree
This list is generated by an automated program which scours Twitter for free giveaways. It's Toronto-only -- sorry, rest-of-Canada -- but enterprising code-heads can set up a similar feed for their own city with the help of these instructions. (Or so we're led to believe -- there are some things our fact-checkers just won't do, no matter how much we beg.)
Image credits: Practica Twitter icon by DryIcons. Santa icon by iconica.
GENERAL
RedFlagDeals
The RedFlagDeals website has been the go-to resource for bargain hunters in Canada for years. Its 250,000 members post and rate deals from all across the country, in every conceivable category, from Armani clothes to IKEA furniture to Domino's Pizza. Their Twitter account will be one of the most valuable resources on anyone's list.
GENERAL - WOMEN'S
CoolCanucks
Classifying CoolCanucks as specifically a women's resource is misleading: You'll find plenty of deals on men's clothing, and things that are either traditionally geared towards men or gender-neutral. But because online bargain sites are often disproportionately filled with technology and electronics -- tech stores being early adopters of things like Twitter -- it's a breath of fresh air to see CoolCanucks place an emphasis on cosmetics, household goodies and stuff for moms. Often bests RedFlagDeals on number of updates and breadth of sources.
BOOKS AND MUSIC
IndigoDeals
The giant Canadian book-selling chain updates four or five times a day. There are plenty of specials, but they're mixed in with site updates (author Q&As, etc) and other store updates.
Amazon.ca
At first, we thought this Twitter feed was listing deals: It's certainly listing products, and a lot of 'em. But they don't seem to be on sale. And they're numbered, although they don't seem to be listed in any particular order. Our best guess was that some eager little robot was automatically pumping out the top ten sellers every hour -- and doing it so quickly that it was mixing up the order. But in some of the lists, numbers are repeated within the same hour. So have fun puzzling over what exactly this frantic little feed thinks its doing. And if you figure it out, please post a comment and share with the rest of the class. It'll ease our minds to know that it's not, for example, starting World War III with Matthew Broderick.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
HomeDepotCanada
Home Depot's "Hammer Drop" is the best name ever for a daily price cut. 'Nuff said.
DEPARTMENT STORE
SearsCA
The Hudsons Bay Company doesn't seem to have a Twitter account, so Sears wins the department-store battle by default. But even so, aside from plenty of deals here, SearsCA gets extra points for using Twitter for super-friendly personal support as well.
ELECTRONICS
BBYCanadaDeals (Best Buy) and fs_deals (Futureshop)
There's no shortage of places for Canadians to turn if they're seeking deals on computers and electronics (for those who like to shop online, see also NeweggCaDeals). But subscribe to these two feeds to prove to yourself that Best Buy and Futureshop are not, in fact, the same store. (We're still skeptical.)
VIDEO GAMES
Gamedealscanada
Gamedealscanada is a gamre's one-stop resource, consolidating the best deals on video games and accessories from Dell, Futureshop, Amazon, EBGames, and others.
CLOTHING
CanDeals
Again, technically this isn't a clothing-only feed -- it's general, and you'll find savings here on things from cat food to movie tickets. But the overwhelming majority of the deals listed are clothing-related. Updates come a little bit slower than most of the other sources on this list, but you can still expect a notification every of couple days.
CHEAPER THAN CHEAP
torontofree
This list is generated by an automated program which scours Twitter for free giveaways. It's Toronto-only -- sorry, rest-of-Canada -- but enterprising code-heads can set up a similar feed for their own city with the help of these instructions. (Or so we're led to believe -- there are some things our fact-checkers just won't do, no matter how much we beg.)
Image credits: Practica Twitter icon by DryIcons. Santa icon by iconica.
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