The featured image is sourced from Flickr.
Over the past decade, online shopping has risen to extraordinary heights; it is now one of the standard ways people purchase products for their daily needs. A few worrywarts are still holding out, but, overall, it would be safe to say that pretty much anyone with access to the Internet is likely to have made a purchase online one way or another.
And with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets becoming increasingly popular, online shopping has never been more convenient. The iPad and the BlackBerry PlayBook both got top grades recently for security in research by Context Information Security, and the Flash-enabled capabilities of the PlayBook (highlighted here in this collection of BlackBerry PlayBook reviews) make it easy to view online shopping sites that use that technology.
There are a host of tablet applications available to assist with shopping needs of users. Whether you are using an iPad, an Android tablet, a BlackBerry PlayBook or a new Windows 8 tablet, developers have undoubtedly made apps to make shopping more fun for you. If you remain cautious about online shopping – or if you’re just looking for new apps to help you maximize your tablet use – think about installing the following apps on your tablet.
1) Shoppa Free for Nook, Android OS and BlackBerry OS
Shoppa is a free app that makes online shopping a great experience, drawing together selections of products from major retailers and stores like eBay, Target, Walmart, Amazon and more. Shoppa’s best and most useful feature is the ability to compare prices and products. It even helps you shop abroad in other countries like the UK, China and Switzerland, to name but a few. Aside from browsing the ‘Always Fresh’ categories, you can search for specific products very easily. Save any product as favorite, or share it on Facebook. It’s probably one of the best online shopping tools out there for mobile devices.
2) Slice Free for iOS and Android
For online buyers, the most stressful part of the shopping process is right after making the purchase and before the product arrives at your door. It can be difficult to get the timing right, and all that waiting means some people would rather go out and buy their items straight from the store. What better then than an app that will keep an eye on your orders for you?
Slice helps users organize and track their online purchases, syncing with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL or iCloud email accounts to automatically record delivery details. Slice also provides the option to track shipments by scanning barcodes from the waybill. It places orders into three categories: open, shipped or on the way, and delivered. In the ‘delivered items’ category, users can check total items received and amount spent. Bonus features include alerts from stores about price drops or discount offers.
3) Vault Password Manager $2.99 for iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS
If security worries are still stopping you shopping online, then this is the app for you. Open URLs in one tap and access your online shopping accounts like Amazon, Ebay or PayPal securely without having to remember individual passwords. Vault Password Manager makes sure that your information is safe from identity theft. It encrypts vital information such as passwords, bank account numbers, credit card numbers etc with industry-standard 256-bit AES. There’s also a backup feature – to your Dropbox account – in case you lose your device, or if the auto destruct feature has been triggered (which wipes all data after five invalid login attempts).
Let the shopping commence!
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