Saving Money At Grocery Stores Using Apps

There are a number of apps that will give you cashback or a discount when you shop at a grocery store. The great thing about these apps is that they are all stackable and you usually just need to scan your receipt. I thought it’d be a good idea to look at all of the applications currently in this space and give a brief introduction to each one.

Checkout 51

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• You can shop at any store you like, just download the app and then upload a photo of your receipt (you can also upload this using their website)
• Available for both US and Canada
• Deals change every Thursday morning and can be viewed here (please note this is only a partial list, you can see the full list if you become a member)
• You need to earn a minimum of $20 before they’ll send you a check

Snap by Groupon

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• You can shop at any grocery story you like, you just download the application and then take a photo of your receipt
• Deals change weekly and are publicly viewable here
• The deals are usually for branded products (e.g they seem to love giving cash back on huggies products), they also usually offer cash back on any brand of milk/bread and a few different fruits & vegetables each week. Bread/milk is usually $1 back and fruits/vegetables are $0.25-$0.5
• Deals are limited in number, the best deals run out quickly
• You need to earn a minimum of $20 before you can cash out
• People have complained about slow wait times after they upload a photo of their receipt
• They have a referral program, for every person you refer you’ll receive $1. That said the fine print is kind of ridiculous, the person you refer has to: sign up, redeem an offer that is not a “bonus offer” (e.g the offers that are for non-branded products like bread & milk) all within 72 hours of them clicking your link

Ibotta

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• Extremely similar to both Snap & Checkout 51, you sign up “unlock” the offers you want and then upload your receipt. If you’ve purchased an item they have a rebate for, you receive cashback in your account. If the place your shopping at is a preferred partner you can also just link your loyalty card.
• Deals are usually for branded products, although they also have some offers for generic items such as bread and fruits and vegetables. These only earn $0.25 in cash back
• You can view all the rebates they currently offer by clicking here (make sure you update your location if it’s not showing much)
• Need to earn a minimum of $10 in cash back before you can receive the money via Paypal or Venmo
• They also offer teamwork bonuses, this requires you to link your facebook account
• They offer a referral bonus of $5 (note: this bonus is currently $10 for October/November). The person you refer must sign up, download the app on a unique mobile device (one that hasn’t had Ibotta installed on it before) and redeem their first offer

ReceiptHog

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• With ReceiptHog rather than earning money for purchasing specific items, you earn coins for uploading your receipts. Your receipts must be from stores where groceries can be purchased.
• They have different levels, your level will determine how many points you receive per receipt:
  • Runt: 10 coins per receipt
  • Piglet: 15 coins per receipt (takes 10 receipt uploads to reach this level)
  • Weaner: 20 coins per receipt
  • Hog: 25 coins per receipt
• Limit of 20 receipts per week and limit of three receipts from the same store per week
• Points can be redeemed for paypal credit at the following rates:
  • 1000 coins: $5
  • 1,800 coins: $10
  • 3,200 coins: $20
  • 4,500 coins: $30
• You can also earn points by completing surveys and there is something called a “Hog Spin” you get one of these every receipt upload and it’s basically a slot machine where you can win points
• You’ll also earn 10 Hog Spins per referral

Personally I don’t see a lot value in using this application. You’d need to upload 40 receipts at the highest level to earn just $5. If we use the top redemption ($30) you’d need to upload 180 receipts which would take at least 9 weeks. This might be worth it if you’re doing this in conjunction with the apps and can quickly upload your receipts.

Walmart Savings Catcher

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• This is only for purchases made at Walmart
• Scan or enter your Walmart receipt and Walmart will compare the prices you paid to advertised prices by their competitors in the local area. You then receive the difference in price in the form of an eGift card
• Get 2x the difference if you redeem your into your Bluebird account

Final Thoughts

I’m relatively lazy when it comes to couponing, I usually don’t think it’s worth my time to try save a relatively small amount of money. I know some people are extremely successful doing it and get a lot of products for free or cheap.

With these apps what I do is simple: I take a photo of my receipt and then upload it to all of the applications, hopefully I’ve bought something that gets me extra cash back for purchases I would have made anyway. The problem with this tactic is that most of these apps required you to unlock or enroll in a specific offer before you upload your receipt. This is much more work and might not be worth it.

My plan is to just these apps for six months and then see how much I’ve got with each app, if it looks like I’ve only received a few dollars from each app then I’ll stop using them or at least re evaluate which apps are worth my time. Have you used any of these apps? What are your thoughts? Did I miss any other apps? Let me know in the comments below. You might also be interested in reading our review on ShopKick which is a similar although slightly different concept.