Save on Holiday Shopping with CouponCowgirl.com and ShoppingNotes.com

With the declining economy, consumers are becoming more conscious about saving when shopping for their holiday gifts. CouponCowgirl.com and ShoppingNotes.com are two websites that make price comparison and coupon savings easy when buying presents online.

We've all been there, scrolling through site after site trying to determine who has the best price for that highly sought after item or looking for coupon savings. If you're like me, you probably tire of the process and settle on a vendor whether or not you're getting the best price. However, I like to save as much as the next person, so how can I not endorse these businesses that help keep money in my pocket (or at least spread it further by purchasing more)?

Coupon Cowgirl is one of the many trendy websites that compiles printable coupons and coupon codes for retail shops and other organizations. But, I have to say I prefer their site over many of their competitors because it's very well-organized and makes online shopping convenient.

Unlike other coupon sites, it has a comprehensive search directory for companies offering coupon discounts AND links you directly to the online stores so you can complete your purchases in just a couple of steps. Depending upon the savings you seek, you can search by category, store, $ off coupons, % off coupons, or businesses which offer free shipping. One improvement that would make the process even easier (although would be challenging without partnering with the businesses featured on the site) would be to have the coupon codes auto fill in the right fields at checkout so consumers don't need to keep track.

Another feature that stands out about Coupon Cowgirl, compared to other similar sites, is that a lot of work has clearly gone into making it visually appealing. While the content may not be so different, this goes a long way in establishing their credibility in my mind.

Shopping Notes takes online shopping savings one step further, by providing a price comparison service that allows you to monitor prices of products on the wish lists of your loved ones. Essentially, it offers a bookmark tool coupled with a price watch engine and definitely beats having to visit each site day after day to find the best price and monitor discounts.

Unfortunately, the site doesn't quite do ALL the work for you. It's up to you to locate the websites that feature your sought after item and record the URLs on your Shopping Notes account for monitoring. But, once the price has decreased on any of the sites, they will send you an email notification with the new price and link directly to the online store. They present you with the savings evidence by bringing it right to your inbox, but if multiple competitors are dropping their prices, it remains up to you to make the comparison and final purchase decision. I jest, but really, it can't get much easier than this.

The Shopping Notes and Coupon Cowgirl websites do share a feature in common, making them competitors in the online savings market. Both prominently display the new, hot savings by some of their advertised businesses. That way, the most substantial savings are in your face, which can be a handy way to get new gift ideas for those hard to shop for people in your lives (I stand corrected, it does get easier!). Another similarity is that neither site requires an application download since all is available from your web browser. And of course, both share the mission of bringing you the best deals!

From a business perspective, I can't evaluate the potential for profit of either of these companies. Thrifty consumers have access to their services for free, and neither site admits on their sites that vendors are charged to be included in their directories. The only indication of revenue I can find relates to rather well-concealed Google ads (and that's only visible on Coupon Cowgirl). So, if you're an entrepreneur considering entering the races as a competitor; I'll leave that to your own interpretation. However, there's no denying that these are great services for avid online shoppers and coupon enthusiasts.

As you compile your collection of gifts that will go under your tree this year, beat the recession with the convenience of savings made possible by these two companies.

PS - Inventor Spot is affiliated when a number of popular online shopping hotspots (like Amazon, Walmart and more). If you are planning on ordering from these sites for your holiday shopping, we would appreciate if you access them through the links on our affiliate page. By going through Inventor Spot, we will receive a small comission that allows us to maintain the site and keep us safe from the declining economy. Thank you for your support!