Start
Our pair of intrepid shoppers meet up early on this chilly Saturday morning to try to scare off the competition by showing off their clever bargain-hunting schemes, but it's pretty clear that there are more unfulfilled boasts than Tim Wonnacott replacements here. Soon Nick is brandishing his Nokia Lumia 900 while Matt starts up his Microsoft Surface tablet. Rather lazily, both start off with a quick search on Bing shopping. Both quickly find out that the best price for 200g of cheese in their area is a rather expensive £3.65. Matt, however, does seem to be tickled by something he's found on his phone, and when asked, merely tells Nick to "Wait and see!"
Having both started with the same search technique, Nick and Matt realise that if they carry on in this fashion the shopping challenge is going to end in a stalemate. They decide to take a different approach, and slope off to their own houses to wage online shopping war in comfort on their Windows 8 laptops. Delving into the depths of eBay with the Windows 8 app, Nick manages to unearth a Commodore 64 in good condition for a measly £35. What's more, he can choose the Buy it Now option, meaning that the price is valid, and won't continue to rise as part of an ongoing auction.
Matt, meanwhile, is browsing the Amazon Windows 8 app, but draws a blank with all three items. Never mind, he decides to buy some more Lego figures while he's there, so it's not a completely wasted journey. Unlike Amazon apps on other operating systems, it's possible to buy things directly from the Windows 8 app rather than having to complete your purchase at the Amazon website - although this may not be a good thing considering the way Matt is building up his superhero collection.
Now things start to get interesting. In his search for cheap cars, which has taken him to the Auto Express and Autotrader websites (and found him a surely unbeatable price of X220 for an X-reg diesel), Nick has stumbled upon a police auction site that could get him an even better deal. Bumblebee Auctions (www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk), a UK police property disposal site, lets people buy unclaimed and seized property from the police. Even better, the money made from the sale is often split between the police force and local charities. Sadly, it seems that no car thieves have been caught stealing five-door Ford Fiestas or Commodore 64s recently, so his search is to no avail, although he does put a bid in for a motocross bike he finds there for a quid and crosses his fingers.
Matt isn't sitting still either. By trawling classified ads sites like www.gumtree.co.uk and www.loot.co.uk he manages to track down a C64 for £60, even though unbeknownst to him, Nick has already beaten that price. However, he also finds a five-door hatchback for £150 on Gumtree, which puts him very much back in the running (and despite not needing a car that morning, he almost considers purchasing it at that price).
Halfway through the challenge, and despite some intense surfing, Nick hasn't managed to beat any of his earlier prices yet. Then he remembers a discounted food site his friend recommended to him. Approved Food (www.approvedfood. co.uk) is a food clearance site that specialises in short dated and out of date stock, as well as discontinued lines. Annoyingly, the closest thing to Cheddar on Approved Food is `McVities Mini Cheddars: Branston Pickle Flavour', costing .€1 for eight bags. Not being one to resist a bargain, Nick orders 16 packets. It may not help him win, but at least he'll have some inexpensive and interesting food to console himself with if Matt delivers the goods for less.
Desperate measures are now being called into play: Nick is using his Nokia Lumia 900 to Skype three female friends who have just finished their own high street shopping spree and are currently in a pub having a hard-earned drink. Straight away they tell him to look up www.mysupermarket.co.uk, a site that compare prices between the best-known supermarkets. Nick's price for the 200g of Cheddar cheese is now a rock-bottom £1.50, and what's more, it's been pre-grated for him. He can even collect supermarket loyalty points at the same time to save him some money in the future!
Matt has a similar idea, and gets his mum on MSN to see what she recommends. She says it's a long shot, but it's probably worth checking out vouchers deals sites like LivingSocial (www.livingsocial.com) or Groupon (www.groupon.com) in case they have a deal on one of his items. A bit of searching later and he discovers he isn't lucky today, but he does find a very cheap spa day deal on LivingSocial that's perfect for his mum's birthday, and a screwdriver set for his brother on Groupon. In fact, this task to save money is setting Matt and Nick back a pretty penny, but at least with their shopping sprees they're doing all they can to kickstart the recovery of the national economy.
Checking out voucher sites doesn't turn out to be that silly though, because over on the HotUKDeals Windows 8 app, Nick has just found 200g of Crackerbarrel cheese for a mere pound. It may not be grated, but it's 50p cheaper than his next best price. Nick retires to the comfort of his bed happy that he's done his all to show the world what a great bargain-finder he is.
It's the moment of truth as our shoppers meet to find out who has got the best price for the three products. With £1 for the cheese and £35 for the Commodore 64, Nick is looking good for the prize. However, it is only now that Matt reveals his best price for a five-door Ford Fiesta - the one he found on his phone right at the start: £9.50 for a blue model from 2002. Admittedly, it's only 1:43 scale, but he argues it fits the requirements. We'll leave that one to the judge.
