
Andy Yates, entrepreneur and director of Huddlebuy.co.uk, the daily deals site for entrepreneurs, gives Real Business readers regular top money saving tips to help business owners save thousands of pounds. This week: The easy way to make hardware savings.
It can be a hard job searching for hardware bargains. But you don’t need to be a technical wizard to conjure up some savings. Below are some money saving top tips to take a ‘byte’ out of your bill for anything from computers and laptops to printers and scanners.Tip 1: Shop till you drop
There are some great bargains out there if you are prepared to seek them out. Here are some top shopping tips: – Check for regular sales on key online suppliers such as Maplin, PC World, Staples and Dixons. – Search out clearance items and sales on specialists sites such as Dell, Misco, ITC Sales and Euro PC. – There are plenty of other online suppliers as well as the big boys like Amazon. Try MoreComputers.com, CCLonline.com and Novatech.co.uk. – Then there is eBay, a whole shopping world all on its own. Highly-rated sites include Buy United Kingdom, Ebuyer Express, Oyy UK, 3 Monkeys and The Telecom Shop.Tip 2: Stay alert
Sign up to email alerts so you don’t miss out on bargains. Huddlebuy.co.uk provides a daily email with discounts for small businesses. HotUKDeals provides deals submitted by its members.Tip 3: As good as new
Tip 4: Extra, extra – read all about it
Don’t get bamboozled by those added extras canny suppliers will try and sell you. Decide what you really need. Do you need a webcam for Skype sessions or in reality are you going to pick up the phone? How often are you really going to connect your phone to your laptop with Bluetooth? Does that anti glare screen really make a difference to you or your employees?Tip 5: The older the better
When the new, fashionable and highly in demand model of a product is released, prices for older versions can drop considerably. If you don’t need the fancy new functionality then the old ones can be the best.Tip 6: Old school
Be prepared to do it the old fashioned way and check out local stores. Many offer collection only offers, and larger chains such as Asda, Tesco, Currys and Ryman often promote in-store offers or good deals if you reserve and collect.Tip 7: Wait just a second
When we looked at money saving tips for office furniture and equipment we pinpointed some really useful sites that can also be used to find some hardware bargains. Gumtree, Craigslist and Freecycle are all worth a look if you drill down to your local area. Who said hardware savings were so hard? Next time: How to ensure you don’t get stuck with high insurance costs.Share this story