comparison shopping sites

[hairsoup]

does anyone have a definative list of comparison shopping sites?

im running out of places to peddle my wares! ive checked all sites on dmoz and yahoo.

if you have used the site please tell about them (feed support, cpc, ROI... etc)



thanks in advance

 

dealtime, froogle, kelkoo, pricerunner have been the only ones my clients have had any sucess with. So be careful when paying registration fees.

 

[hairsoup]

Cheers for that, i have since tried a few, here is my thoughts...

Froogle: Converts very well, traffic is thin though, free so can't complain.

Shopping.com/Dealtime: Does ok, cpc a bit steep.

Shopzilla/Bizrate: Very good, converts well, good cpc.

Ciao: Got stung with this one. I only get one click a day or so.

Pangora: Converts the best, not enough traffic though. Fair cpc.


The following I am not yet on but have dealt with them:

Pricegrabber: After the Ciao debacle I was wary of getting stung again and I had a bad feeling about them, but this week they were bought by GUS for ~$425m so I might give them a punt! Very helpful though.

Pricerunner: 35p min cpc seems steep, but I have been told [by them] that they convert well. Again very helpful.

Kelkoo: Lowest cpc, so I suspect they will convert poorly. Whenever I asked something their staff would give me the hard sell. However according to hitwise they drive 4 times the traffic of their nearest competitor pricerunner.

Nextag: Virtually uncontactable. Expect you to fund an account before they tell you datafeed specs.

 

SEO is always going to get you more traffic for less money.

 

[broadband-engine]

I agree totally with the SEO comment - it can take some time before results are seen after optimising your website, BUT it is well worth the wait.

 

[SillyJokes]

what do you sell? Hair soup sounds a bit stringy to me.

If it mainstream/female-aimed edirectory might be good - but is expensive - do the maths.

comparestoreprices.com

zencudo

We do well with Froogle but it took a while to get started. Fantastic value for money since it is free.

 

[ink4-u]

i like froogle it does me some great stuff!

 

[hairsoup]

Thanks sillyjokes, im aware of those sites but have decided not to deal with them.

comparestoreprices has a lot of affiliate links in it if I remember, so I would percieve them as a higher risk than other sites.

zencudo i might give a punt, but I'm not sure about them. If youve used them sillyjokes please tell me how theyve done for you.

edirectory! Why should the merchant be taking all the risk on them, paying a monthly fee and a commision, and possibly a setup fee? If they went purely on commision then yeh id possibly give them a go.

 

[Magsite]

I've just joined Shopping.com/Dealtime:

Just waiting for my account to activate

Lisa

 

[hairsoup]

I had to contact them myself to get them to activate it. Its weird with them you dont get a personal contact for your account.

 

[SillyJokes]

hairsoup if you have affiliate marketing as part of your mix then comparestoreprices would be very good.

I agree about edirectory - but they have links with some big sites. I do know a couple of people who make a lot of sales through them, even though thier prices via edirectory are higher than on their own site to compensate. I also know a couple of small merchants who say they are no good for them.

I have not actually tried them myself and without knowing your product I cannot wonder if they would work for you.

 

[quotes4]

Froogle is excellent but only if your products are very competitive as it only shows the cheapest three items on the main Google listings and this is where you'll see the most benefit of being on Froogle.
You also need to ensure that you name your products correctly as it will only show search results for products by an acurate name search (if that makes sense).

 

[hairsoup]

Ive just been trying to get going with nextag... what utter crap, terrible company. I advise all to stay well clear of them.

 

[vdeep.com]

One of the most important thing about listing on a comparison engine is making sure you have taken the time to utilise the data feed to its full. Many merchants neglect to fully utilising the data feed.

The data feed fundamentally is what dictates to the shopping comparison engine how and where your products should be mapped and it in turn plays a large part in how consumers come across your products.

Also make sure you include all available information such as p+p costs, availability and anything else the engine will allow. The key is to feed the consumer as much information you can before they click through to your site and the way to do this is via your feed.

Take care of your feed.

 

[vdeep.com]

Nextag and Pricegrabber are both US companies that are not as dominate in the UK so there customer service is often on a different time scale and is focused somewhat towards the US market.

Shopping.com
PriceRunner
Kelkoo
Shopzilla
Pangora

They are the key players within the UK to get with for everyday products and vdeep.com if you have any adult products.

Nextag
Pricegrabber
Caio

Would be next on my list followed by some of the smaller engines the reason being that those digging for a bargain will check out the latter ones listed, and often the other smaller ones can just appear in Google for some searches.

Also shopping.net can be useful I keep reading but I don’t know much about them.

I noted someone motioned receiving only a single click from Ciao, while a single click is unusually it must be noted that lion shares of Ciao’s revenue comes from distributing surveys and that the shopping comparison side of things is very much an add on and they therefore are not always as popular as the other sites, but I must say I am surprised at only one click a day.

It was mentioned that Kelkoo is cheaper but is several times bigger. When looking at each of the comparison sites you need to consider there business model and the type of consumer that uses them predominantly. In my experience from talking to people and research Kelkoo will drive you more traffic than any other shopping comparison site in the UK but does that make it the best??? No. Kelkoo is very much like a Google of comparison engines turn on the tap and the traffic will come, but will they come and buy that is the question.

The fundamental question is ROI, that’s what matters. Each comparison site will have categories they are strong on. I would personally list with as many as you can providing you can get around the initial listing fees, and see how each one converts for you, do not always be put off buy high the CPC rate, because if there traffic converts well that’s the important thing and the comparison site that does not work well for one person may well work well for you, often it can depend on your products. Remember a comparison site can only charge what the market will bear, if the charge to much and you fail to make money you will remove your products and they will lose you. They need you as much as your need them.

Also as I said in a pervious post maximise your use of the data feed, also if you can install or monitor your ROI with them as best you can, preferable install there ROI code if they provide it, also if they provide code to encourage users to review your site maximise your use of this to (providing you know you give customer service and sell good products). Also ask users where they found your site, often users will find your products on a comparison engine and come back at a latter date and purchase – not crediting the comparison engine as providing that sale, this can be doubly important for those sites with telephone numbers on the front page, have your sales team ask them how the found you.

Sorry for the length here I just thought I would add a bit and then it became a lot – I hope it helps.

I would be very interested to hear what conversion rates you or anyone else is receiving form any of the shopping comparison engines.

 

[hairsoup]

One interesting point from your post was focusing on customer reviews, this is something which I have conciously avoided untill I am confident that our customer satisfaction level is as good as it can be. The reason for this, people are obviously more likely to review your site if they had a bad experience than if they had a good one.

Comparison site reviews are a good marketing tool I think to increase the throughput and conversion rate, and am eager to start exploiting it - when the time is right!

 

[vdeep.com]

Defiantly reviews are something you should do when you are satisfied with your level of customer service, but also do not forget about product quality especially if you do not sell branded items.

The point I was making was that don’t just turn on a shopping comparison site and wish for the best, us all the available options they provide to increase your click to conversion, you don’t want them clicking unless they intended to buy.

In my last post I neglected to mention Froogle, Froogle is good in essence because it is free, but you will be unlikely to get the same level of service or customers as you will by making sure your utilising the other major comparisons engines to the full.

Top 10 UK shopping comparison sites

1.Kelkoo UK (43.79%)
2. Dealtime UK (13.26%)
3. uk.shopping.com (10.92%)
4. Shopping.net (8.36%)
5. Pricerunner UK (8.28%)
6. NexTag UK (4.68%)
7. Ciao.co.uk (3.04%)
8. MSN Shopping UK (2.13%)
9. ShopGenie (2.08%)
10. Froogle.co.uk (2.07%)

Source: Hitwise, June 2005