Alternative/equivilant of Google Base anyone??

[movietub]

Hi - first post so hi eveyone!

ATM I promote my online shop using Google Base which sends c400 visitors a day to the shop and also organic results send in another c200.

Over our first year I have recognised the potential for price comparison engines like Google base and focussed my time on pushing certain niche products, negotiating supplier discounts and now stuff flies out due to us normally hitting the lowest price. Great.

The problem is we make a very slim margin and rather than increase sales further by increasing the product lines we stock (which increases overheads and stress) I'm looking for equivilants to Google Base.

I want to avoid CPC on this site - like I said its low margin and the business model is based around lowest prices etc.

Anyone got any ideas? - Thanks in adavance...

[movietub]

Additional:

Forgot to mention I found MSN to be similar but they arn't accepting any new listing at the moment. Which seems strange because if a company like MS can't upscale what hope is there for the rest of us!?

[sysops]

There is nothing 'like' Google Base, because there aren't any other free services that display your products within Google search results.

There are lots and lots of similar shopping directories, which will get you a lot of traffic, but will cost you 5-15% of your sale value.

What sector are you in? There are many sector-specific options out there.

[movietub]

We sell dry goods and consumables for a very popular hobby.

When you say similar and for 5-15% sales value how is this calculated? Is it based purely on the listed value of the product? Because truthfully this would mean we were selling most items at a loss!

I wasn't expecting any other directory to list in Google the same way, I just wondered if there was any other directory that offered free listings? Basically a Google Base clone without the benfit of being 'Google'.

It would be very good for business if there were!

[sysops]

We sell dry goods and consumables for a very popular hobby.


Hmm, ok.


When you say similar and for 5-15% sales value how is this calculated? Is it based purely on the listed value of the product?

The charges vary from one directory to another. Some charge an annual fee, plus a cost per click. Others charge an annual fee plus a % of the sale. Some just charge a % of the sale. Some just charrge for the click (though not many). By saying 5-15% I was just trying to give you a feel for the general pricing.


Because truthfully this would mean we were selling most items at a loss!

You have just identified the biggest flaw with minimal margin pricing strategies - they leave no money for marketing. You don't have a marketing budget, so all you can do is grab a % of the sales through channels where you can get free exposure.

[movietub]

I think you just accurately analysed our business model - well done!

Although I wouldn't describe lowest price lack of marketting budget as a flaw, some would say lowest price is an achievement and works as marketting in its own right.

Within our buisness we sell all sorts of products/services at different levels -some budget, some certainly not.

With this particular venture the challenge was to enter a competitive market place and prove that by power selling large volumes we could negotiate better buying in prices in advance of the competition catching up. We leaned that competitors would price match us on certain products, essentially removing the opportunity for profit altogether but only for so long before we gave up and the price was raised a little. We now use web bots to track price shifts on google base and adjust or shops database prices to always be the most competitive on at least some products. I would guess out of 4000 products we are probably cheapest on a couple of hundred at any one time. The system checks 1000's of prices every hour. The whole model hinges on efficiency as the small profits could be easily eaten away. On the plus side having branded products at the lowest price will always bring in business.

Word of mouth is having a positive effect but its slow, I would love to find any other directories that offered free listings although I understand none will compare to Google Base overall.

[Burden]

if you pm me your link i may have some ideas for you!

[Freestylextreme]

We sell dry goods and consumables for a very popular hobby.


Body building supplements?

[movietub]

Body building supplements?

Not quite! The only reason I don't want to be overly specific is that I don't like discussing pro's and cons of my marketing strategies in the same place as showing what I'm doing - if I'm honest, like most online ventures, its easily replicated!

Basically there are around 4k products, average sale is £37 quid, conversion rate is 6% and average GP per sale is about £5. I'm doing this without paying for any advertising - I have no doubt a lot of the success is down to the large product range and our use of the web bot to track competitor price shifts - there is simply no way I could keep on top of that number of price checks if it wasn't automated. - Even that process could be replicated of course but its a lot of effort to go through. I would worry that if a competitor found out they may make that effort however...

So you can see that in my position it would re really useful to find as many additional, free, price comparison engines I can scan and upload to.