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Last updated: Thursday, November 26, 2009

There’s a new kind of Black Friday shopper, a person who knows what the deals will be and where to find them. If a competitor catches wind of one store’s discount and counters with one slightly better, this shopper knows about it in an instant. It’s not someone crazed so much as efficient. The new-age shopper uses every tool available — mobile phone applications, Facebook, Twitter, bargain Web sites, electronic coupons, promotional codes and the printed circulars stuffing the Thursday morning newspaper. “I enjoy new technology,” said Kelly Lucas, 31, of Atlanta [not pictured here]. “I see how I can use it to my advantage.” And she does. Lucas’ primary, full-retail price weapons are her apps, including Yowza, which uses the GPS technology on her iPhone to alert her to retailers with the best coupons within a 15-mile radius. Then it brings up the coupon’s bar code that can be scanned at the store. Other online coupon favorites: mobiQpons, Valpak and Coupon Sherpa. Many retailers are attracting followers through social-media platforms and posting exclusive offers there for their most loyal customers. Several deal sites have designated areas for Black Friday. “I can have information sent to me all day, every day, if I want to,” Brandon Coleman of Marietta said. “I don’t make the purchases, necessarily, but I bookmark it. My girlfriend and I sign up for e-mail lists and they send us things on a weekly basis.” If that sounds like more in your in-box than you can handle, here’s a tip: Set up a separate e-mail account strictly for this kind of mail, said Michelle Madhok, founder of SheFinds.com and MomFinds.com. Also, promotional codes are available for just about everything. You’ve seen the box when making your online purchase: Enter a promo code here. “People think it’s for an exclusive person or something and they continue…

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Mobile Phone Apps Help Track Deals

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