I’m going to explain the differences in shopping comparison sites and which ones are the best one to use. At least 75% of my sales come from Google Adwords, while the rest comes from organic results and listing on shopping comparison websites.
Now, I am going to start off by listing the major players in the shopping comparison from the best to the worst that will give you some decent traffic and conversion. Remember, every niche is different, so I am speaking of my own experience selling electronics online and some computer accessories.
Shopping Comparison Websites:
- Nextag -NexTag is a website for comparing online product prices. It started originally as a website where buyers and sellers could negotiate prices for Computers and Electronics products. The current business model with a focus on comparison shopping has existed since 2000. In June 2007, Providence Equity Partners purchased a two-thirds majority of the company. It was ranked by Time magazine as one of the fifty best websites of 2008.
- Shopping.com - Shopping.com used to be called DealTime.com. It was founded in Israel in 1998 by Dr. Nahum Sharfman and Amir Ashkenaz, whose original idea was to create a downloadable client that would monitor changes in prices of products the user seeks to buy over time, notifying the user when the product price reached a predetermined level (hence the site’s original name, DealTime).Originally targeting American consumers, the basic concept was quickly modified from a downloadable client to a purely web-based service, a concept the company has kept ever since. The company went finally public in October 2004, and was acquired by eBay in June 2005. It is currently a semi-autonomous division within eBay and still runs the www.shopping.com website. eBay and Shopping.com functionalities are slowly being merged, for example eBay’s PayPal payment system in SDC’s offering to its advertising merchants.
- Pricegrabber -PriceGrabber is a price comparison service. They’ve partnered with over 11,000 mechants and sellers. They also serve as the data source for numerous other shopping web sites.In addition to standard comparison shopping, PriceGrabber offers an election guide web site, allowing visitors to comparison shop the candidates, and a “green” site, helping visitors find environmentally friendly products.It was acquired by Experian in 2005 for $485 million.
- Bizrate -Shopzilla is a price comparison service. Founded in June 1996 by Farhad Mohit and Henri Asseily as Binary Compass Enterprises, the company changed its name to BizRate.com in January 1999. The company launched the website Shopzilla in November 2004, which then became the company name too.The company’s mission is to enable shoppers to find, compare and buy anything, sold by virtually anyone, anywhere. In May 2006, Shopzilla attracted over 20 million unique visitors according to ComScore. Shopzilla also operates the BizRate.com consumer feedback network that collects millions of consumer reviews of stores and products each year.In June 2005, Shopzilla was acquired by The E. W. Scripps Company for $525 million and is now part of its interactive media division. Shopzilla operates websites serving consumers and retailers in the U.S., UK, French and German markets.
Other Smaller Shopping Comparison websites
- Mysimon – mySimon is a comparison shopping website owned by CBS Interactive. The site offers shopping recommendations, buying advice, and side by side price comparisons for various products. The site directs users to other shopping sites such as Amazon.com when searching for products.
- Yahoo Shopping -Yahoo! Shopping is Yahoo’s price comparison service.Yahoo uses the Kelkoo price comparison service it acquired in April 2004 to power Yahoo! Shopping in 6 countries.
- Google Base – Google Base is an online database provided by Google into which any user can add almost any type of content, such as text, images, and structured information in formats like XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, Word Perfect. As of 2008, it is available to the public as a beta version. If Google finds it relevant it may appear on its shopping search engine, Google Maps or even the web search. The piece of content can then be labeled with attributes like the ingredients for a recipe or the camera model for stock photography. As of 2008, the user interface is available in English and German. Because information about the service was leaked before public release, it generated much interest in the information technology community prior to release.
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I have read about another site named as http://www.shopnics.com and they do product comparison. Nice to try out and should a niche area while electronics shopping comes.
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