We all love a bargain, and many of us will often seek out shops such as Lidl, Aldi, B&M, or Home Bargains to find cheap deals on food and homeware that would cost us a fortune elsewhere.
B&M is particularly favoured among those who love to get their hands on limited edition foods such as chocolates and other sweet treats as they often stock their shelves with unique bars of Cadbury's that you won't find anywhere else. But did you know there's a way to make sure you pay less for your food?
According to one shopping expert, you need to make sure you're shopping for your limited edition foods at the right times - and you should never go shopping on the day the treats are released.
Tom Church, co-founder of shopping community site Latest Deals recently spoke to The Mirror about some money-saving tips when it comes to shopping at B&M, and said that if you want to get your hands on some limited edition sweets for a discounted price, you should try and wait until the end of their sale period.
He said: "Right now B&M has the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Breakaway Mint, Limited Edition Walkers crisps in Monster Munch, Wotsits and Doritos flavours, Cadbury Dream Raspberry Bites, Fish ‘n Chips Pickled Onion snacks, Cadbury Caramilk Marvellous Creations and Lotus Biscoff White Chocolate bars.
"However, the secret is not to buy them as soon as they come out. This is because they are very expensive at the beginning. Prices can often get reduced after the initial hype has passed.
"Plus, most of these snacks are limited edition or for festive periods, and so stock gets reduced to clear with time. So I keep a list of the new snacks I want to try by saving them on Instagram, along with the launch price. When I spot the price has dropped or it goes on special, I'll buy it then. Over the years I've saved hundreds of pounds at B&M by saving items to my list and waiting for the prices to drop."
Tom also shared a series of other great tips, including recommending that everyone download the B&M app on their phones, as this will give you access to mega deals that haven't had time to make their way to the shelves in store yet, simply by using the barcode scanner.
He explained: "Often, B&M updates prices in their system but not on the shop floor. This means that items can be cheaper than their list price. If you scan the barcode of an item in the app, you'll be shown the correct price. I often go round the shop and scan as many items as I can, hoping for a bargain!
"You'll really hit the jackpot if you scan an item and get an error message. This usually means the item has been reduced to clear, and could end up costing as little as 10p! You can take the item to the till, and they'll let you know the exact price."
The expert also said you can save up to 40% on some items by hunting for products with yellow stickers, as these aren't always found in the sale section and could be scattered throughout the store.
And what's more, there's even an optimal day of the week to go shopping if you want to bag the best deal.
"According to insiders, Wednesday morning is the best time to shop," Tom said, "A B&M store manager told me that they tend to do price drops between Monday and Thursday. The main one though, is on Wednesday, and these often include their 10p bargains.
"Apparently, they get the list of items to reduce on a Tuesday night, everything's authorised on Wednesday, and new prices are ready to go by around 10 am. That means that if you shop just after 10 am on a Wednesday morning - you've got the best chance of getting those famous 10p bargains.
"If you can’t get there on a Wednesday, it’s always best to go in the morning on any day of the week. That way you can get in early and bag bargains before the shop has had a lot of traffic."
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