Cash-back apps have surged in popularity with tens of millions of shoppers now using these solutions to save big bucks off everyday grocery essentials from milk and eggs to pantry staples and school lunch snacks.
The chance to earn rewards just for buying the usual you already need to stock the fridge, fill the pantry, and nourish their family offers shoppers an almost effortless path to extra grocery savings. Even better, these rewards accrue with each trip and may be paired with savings if they grow to the point of offsetting a large portion of the grocery bill.
If strategically used together in conjunction with coupons, loyalty programs, and sales, grocery cash back apps can help shoppers realize significant annual savings, often adding up to hundreds of dollars on necessities.
This comprehensive guide will get you up to speed on how today’s cash-back solutions work and will provide you with tips to maximize your grocery rewards as a new user.
Grocery cash back apps have users first digitally upload images of store receipts to earn cash back on thousands of products or activate in-app offers based on buying selections from a list of specific brands and items.
Most platforms offer more generous cash back rewards on household names and everyday essentials – up to 25% back on select cereals or 10% back on popular yogurt varieties, for example – aiming to modify consumers’ purchasing behavior and frequencies to increase volumes.
After completing each shopping trip, users simply have to scan their entire receipt and submit it through the app. Rebates and cash back rewards get automatically credited to the user’s account balance.
Once the earnings balance hits a minimum threshold, like $5 or $10, cash can be withdrawn to a linked PayPal or Venmo account or they can be deducted directly from within the app during the user’s next purchase in some cases and with specific vendors.
It’s an effortless extra opportunity to put savings back into your wallet. Meanwhile, unlike couponing, not much advanced planning or strategic matching of promotions is required to put this easy-to-use savings solution into action.
While the sheer ease of passively earning rebates is universally appealing, a bit more diligence in strategically stacking savings across multiple platforms can help consumers realize substantially higher rewards.
Here are some top tips for maximizing grocery cash back earnings:
As squeezing every drop of grocery savings out of cash back apps becomes more lucrative with more platforms coming into play, having the right systems to coordinate submissions and track earnings across multiple apps becomes vital.
These steps will help you organize the process to more efficiently exploit all offers that are on the table:
While not exactly passive income, a modest amount of planning and coordination across just 2 or 3 specialized grocery cash back apps can easily unlock $40 to $50 or more monthly in cash earnings for the typical household. This results in an average of $500 to $600 per year saved on grocery purchases alone.
Follow the strategies outlined in this guide as you get started and grocery cash back apps may gradually transform into an invaluable personal finance tool for freeing up extra savings that will keep on building.