Best Apps to Guide Your Black Friday Shopping

Black Friday -- a great American discount shopping tradition the day after U.S. Thanksgiving -- is beginning to make its way north as more Canadian retailers plan to offer discounts in hopes of keeping shoppers in-country. Some malls are opening in the early morning hours of November 23rd for shoppers looking for deals in what might become a new shopping ritual in Canada that resembles Boxing Day. If you're heading out to the sales to browse, or have a product in mind, here are some Apps to guide your shopping and make sure you're getting the best deals around.

TGI Black Friday
For those venturing across the border to scour the sales, or those looking for big box store discounts here in Canada, the TGI Black Friday app can point you in the direction of deals. Search for products and check for updated ads from stores like Best Buy, Walmart and Sears. This app also allows you to create your own shopping list, tick off products as you purchase them and compare prices for the items you desire.

SnapTell (by Amazon)
A good app for shopping research, snap a picture of a product, or scan a barcode, and you'll get ratings and information as well as links to Google, Youtube, Wikipedia and IMDb. You can do some quick price comparisons as well. This app is meant to be used with books, DVDs, CDs and video games.

ShopSavvy
It's an oldie but a goodie. Scan a barcode and wait for ShopSavvy to give you a list of online and local prices. It's comparison shopping made simple. If you download the latest version, ShopSavvy 6, you can make purchases from a range of retailers including Walmart, Best Buy and Toys R Us.

ShopKick
This app rewards you for shopping, so you might as well use it on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Collect "kicks" (rewards points) while you shop by simply walking into a store like Old Navy, Best Buy and Crate & Barrel. You'll be awarded kicks for scanning items and buying them from certain stores too. Then, once some kicks have added up, you can redeem them in ways that would usually cost you: a latte at Starbucks, downloading an iTunes song or designer apparel. You can search for deals on the app too.

SnipSnap
Leave your coupons at home and try the SnipSnap coupon app. Take a picture of your coupons and the app works its magic so all you have to do is show up in-store with your Smartphone to redeem them. You can also search the SnipSnap database for more coupons and share yours with other shoppers.

Google Shopper
A handy, straightforward app by a little company called Google that connects to product information by way of barcodes, voice and text searches and cover art. You can look up reviews, and find in-store as well as online pricing.

Mobile Shopper 2012
Look up a product on this app by Consumer Reports, and not only will you get product information but you'll get a Consumer Report review as well, plus reviews from other shoppers who use the app. Products can be saved to a list for future reference. If you find a product you'd like to recommend to others, the app instantly connects you to Facebook and Twitter.

Individual Store Apps
Best Buy, Future Shop and Sears Canada have free downloadable apps to alert you about deals. You can find out about hot items, read customer reviews and get alerts when the product you desire goes on sale. This can help those looking for big ticket items like laptops, electrical appliances and big screen TVs.