Once you've narrowed down your wish list, it should take minutes to find the lowest price, says RetailMeNot's Hoyt. Simply plug the item into a search engine like Nextag, Google Shopping or Pricegrabber, and evaluate.
Then, enter details on the stores with the best prices into a coupon code site or to see if there are codes that come up.
When you do the math, you may find that the merchant in the No. 2 spot may be offering a 10 percent discount deal or free shipping, offering better overall value than the store in the top spot.
Indeed, try to avoid shipping costs altogether.
To broaden your chances of finding deals, "Like" and follow your favorite stores on Twitter some retailers will post deals just for their online fans.
If you are an active online shopper, you may receive personalized deal offers as the holiday season progresses. For example, if you like to buy Coach handbags at Nordstrom, you might see offers to get 20-percent off of Coach
"The conversion rate of a typical coupon deal is less than one percent, which is very low, but the conversion rate for tuned and personalized offers is much higher - in the 5 to 10 percent range," says Kevin Sterneckert, vice president of retail research at Gartner Group.
Lands End, LL Bean and CVS are among retailers who are tapping their databases to entice shoppers with customized offers.
Should you jump at these deals? Only if the items are on your shopping list and you've done your research on prices.
BEST PAYMENT METHODS
You can reap additional rewards by picking your mode of payment wisely.
For online shoppers, Brian Kelly of ThePointsGuy.com recommends checking your credit card's rewards website and visiting retail links from there. Some cards will offer a 5 percent bonus for such transactions. You can check your card benefits for details.
This year, PayPal is offering price-match guarantees and free return shipping for purchases made using PayPal. Citi, Visa and MasterCard also frequently offer price matching. Other shoppers rely on various reward and cash-back cards to maximize their benefits.
If you've taken all these steps and still don't like the deal you're getting, you could take your chances and wait - December 17 is "Free Shipping Day for procrastinators who want a day of their own.