Whether you’re looking to snag some great deals, stay on top of the latest trends, or just browse, we have an app for that. We’ve rounded up some of the best shopping apps for iOS and Android. These are good year-round, but they should especially come in handy during holiday rushes.
This time around, we’ve skipped the Amazons and Etsys of the world, and instead focused on some lesser-known shopping apps. Whether you’re looking to shop quick, grab an awesome deal, or browse goods like you navigate Pinterest, there’s something here for everyone. Better yet, they’re all built to work best on your phone.
Rent the Runway
The way Rent the Runway works is that you sign up for a monthly membership and you’re given the keys to a constantly rotating wardrobe with every look and style from over 500 designers including Oscar de la Renta, Kate Spade, Rebecca Minkoff, and more. The fees start at $30 per rental, $90 per month, or an unlimited subscription for $159 per month. There are always deals and coupons posted, so we suggest you visit the Rent the Runway website for more details.
Gilt
With Gilt, you can get up to 70 percent off designer brands from Valentino to John Varvatos, Kate Spade, and many more. Gilt does have a beautiful website you can visit, but they do offer mobile-exclusive sales you can only purchase through the app. New sales are available daily with refreshed inventory for you to choose. You can also use the app to give you real-time reminders when a sale starts or whenever an item in your wish list is available.
Zara
Zara is one of the easiest apps to use so, making it quick to find what you’re looking for while never missing a deal. The app saves your account information to make shopping as easy as a quick tap. The app also allows you to keep an eye on brand new arrivals so that you can snag them quickly before they sell out. There’s also a built-in barcode scanner so you can get instant information when you find items at a store. This app is also compatible with the Apple Watch.
Shopbop
Shopbob is an app that specializes in women’s fashion. The app offers new arrivals and a styling guide daily so that you can shop from over 1,000 designers. You can also keep an eye on your most wanted items by using the My Hearts feature. You’ll get a warning when an item is running low on inventory and sales alerts. You can use your Amazon.com account to log into Shopbop for convenience. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can have all the Prime shipping benefits if you live in the U.S.
ShopStyle
If you want to buy clothing, shoes, or entire outfits, ShopStyle promises that you will find what you’re looking for in its app. You can even set alerts so that you don’t miss those deals. You can find brands like Nordstrom, Valentino, Nike, Neiman Marcus, and more. With the easy to use the search function, you can browse stores like Nordstrom, Asos, and Forever 21. If it’s for sale online, you’ll find it in ShopStyle.
The RealReal
If you have ever wanted to buy a real luxury item for a special someone, but lacked the funds, The RealReal may be the app for you. This app specializes in pre-owned luxury items. You’ll find things like women’s and men’s fashion, jewelry, watches, fine art, and more. You can get up to 90 percent off retail prices, and have purchases shipped internationally to up to 61 countries. All the items are guaranteed to be authentic.
Canopy
The very thing that makes Amazon great is also its greatest weakness; its robust selection of goods means you have to dig through a lot of duds before you’ll find a gem. Enter Canopy, a human-curated selection of unique fashion, lifestyle, and home decor products available on Amazon. Its design-focused ethos is obvious from its uncluttered user interface to its tasteful picks, which range from an $11 USB plate to a $1,800 platform bed.
Giftagram
If you have loved ones or business partners on either side of the 49th parallel, you’d know how tricky it can be to send a gift between America and Canada. Thankfully, Giftagram takes care of all the logistics, so you just need to focus on picking the perfect present and providing your recipient’s email address or phone number. Since the app offers a select list of local and global lifestyle products, such as baked goods from The Cravory and Kate Spade iPhone cases, everyone on your list is bound to love your gifts.
Touch of Modern
For men who have everything and are notoriously difficult to shop for, Touch of Modern (ToMo for short) might be your best bet this holiday season. Known for offering lifestyle items that are both design-oriented and meant to start conversations, this app features timed sales that cover everything from retro hats and beef jerky to vintage Rolexes and Picasso prints. Every now and then, it also partners with brands like Samsung to offer members early access or extra perks on new products. This app also supports PayPal to make it easier for you to shop.
The Hunt
Sometimes, all you have is a photo of the floral bomber jacket you covet, but have no idea where you can buy the exact item or something similar. With The Hunt, you can tap into the collective intelligence of fellow fashionistas to get one step closer to owning these mystery pieces. Members can post links to share where an item-in-question is available and its current retail price. They can even go one step further and ask fellow style sisters for feedback on their outfits.
Flipp
Shopping with paper coupons and weekly flyers may seem outdated in our digital world, but there is no denying the convenience of circling the best deals directly on your smartphone. Flipp combines the best of both worlds by providing a digital library of all the latest flyers and helping you build shopping lists within the app. All you have to do is tap on a specific product or coupon within the digitized flyer, and the app will automatically circle and add it to your digital grocery list for a modern shopping experience.
Ibotta
Rather than clipping paper coupons to save pennies at a time, Ibotta (pronounced “I-bought-a”) gives you cash-back on your purchases once you get home by scanning your receipts and barcodes. The app is supported by most of the national and big-boxed retailers you can think of — Walmart, Aldo, Jamba Juice, etc. — so you’re bound to get some money back through this app. That said, you’ll need to accumulate at least $20 in your Ibotta account before you can transfer your money to PayPal, Venmo, or a gift card.
Tictail
If you’re looking for handcrafted artisan work from around the world, look no further than Tictail. Artists and artisans come to Tictail to set up their own stores, much like Etsy, but with more polish and fewer rough edges. Here you’ll find more 100,000 storefronts, including everything from exclusive small-brand fashion lines and housewares to funny enameled pins and brooches. The app also compiles bargains, but remains far more concerned with bringing unique indie work to a wider audience. It’s a custom outlet for people making items they love, and you get some cool stuff without putting down your phone. Everyone wins.
Donde Fashion
Another iPhone-exclusive app, Donde helps you shop for men’s and women’s fashion using simple symbols instead of annoying words. If you read all day at work, perhaps your brain needs a break. It’s also helpful if you want a particular neckline or hem, but can’t remember the name of the style. After all, vocabulary limitations shouldn’t stop you from finding exactly what you want. Items are grouped together by type, color, and pattern, with options to filter them by budget and brand. Donde Fashion presents a pretty picture, and orders ship straight from the brand in question.
Spring
This app’s name is misleading; the gear on Spring is not limited to light, seasonal wear. The app hosts clothes, shoes, and accessories for men and women, as well as lifestyle and beauty products to keep you looking sharp. Spring offers pre-designed bundles for the holidays as well, such as the “Wanderer Kit,” a package that includes a dopp bag, charging cable, and a travel size grooming set outfitted with a cleanser and shave cream. Free shipping and returns are always welcome in a shopping app and Spring offers that, too. With SpringBack, you can earn 4% cash back on every purchase and spend it any way you want.
Shopami
Shopami gathers all your shopping coupons in a single place. It’s annoying to go shopping only to later discover a promotional deal sitting in your inbox. With Shopami, you simply add the email you use for shopping and turn on notifications, ensuring the app will let you know when you’re near a store with an offer in play. Shopami will also let you know when you’re about to miss out on an offer expiring soon. You can turn off notifications if you hate being nagged, too, and the app will still let you know about offers expiring that day. The brand list is also broad, allowing you to skim coupons from the likes of Foot Locker, Lowes, Zales, and others.
Keep Shopping
Keep’s innovation is more in its styling and curation than any new access. The app presents a broad selection of housewares and categories, as well as guest-curated collections. This app is good if you like to keep your deals under $50, or if you’d rather shop based on the type of person you’re shopping for. Thinking of getting something for your girlfriend? Try “Gifts for Her,” where you can find a bunch of things she might like, such as The Big Book of Chic or some jewelry.
Wish
Wish is like eBay’s prettier, younger sister. It offers similar items with a better display. What’s more, the way the app handles profiles is more transparent than other sites. It tracks your searches in whatever account you have linked to it, and categorizes them as tags. In your profile, you can see your favorite tags, which helps determine what shows up in your main feed. Other sites use a similar method, but they often don’t show them to you or automatically organize your wishlists the way Wish does. Another plus? It’s available for Windows users. You’ll be able to find savings between 50% to 90% off on items ranging from fashion and shoes to electronics and more.
Stylect
If you’re looking for shoes, look no further than Stylect. It pitches itself as the app to find “all the shoes in the world,” and given it presents more than 10,000 brands, it probably not much of an exaggeration. It currently only supports women’s shoes, bags, dresses, and accessories — sorry, guys — but what they do have ranges from inexpensive to exquisite. It also includes all the filters anyone could ask for to help narrow down the huge selection of footwear.
Mallzee
If you like the buzz of going to a physical mall or read fashion mags for a different kind of buzz, Mallzee could be for you. It tracks trends from more than a hundred big clothing brands, allowing you to discover the newest collections and the freshest threads. The app also touts feeds you can personalize for events or specific items, along with price drop notifications for the latter.
If you’re dreading that office gift exchange, read our 13 white elephant gifts to give you some ideas.
Don’t know where to start when choosing gifts for your children? Read about our take on the Sphero Mini and the 20 best tech toys for kids.
