More than 80% of shoppers perform online research before they purchase a product. This stands true even if the shopper is sure he wants to buy the product at a physical store. It is no wonder that he wants to compare prices. Price comparison engines or comparison shopping engines (CSE) enable shoppers to compare prices (and more) of identical products offered by various retailers. It allows shoppers to compare products that are similar to each other or the same as each other in function. In some comparison shopping engines, the same product is searched on various websites so shoppers can understand which offers the best value for the particular product.
Price comparison engines can gather the data or information they need in three ways; by getting them from the merchants, by using third-party integrations, or by using web scraping. Depending on what products the comparison engine is comparing and the resources available, either one of the options will be chosen. Typically, price comparison engines collaborate with merchants directly. And for every sale that is made, a fee is paid to the price comparison engine. Sometimes, merchants ask for a fee so that price comparison engines can show the product information to the shoppers who are looking for that data.
Comparison engine websites make their money in many ways. They can use pay per click (PPC) or cost per click (CPC), paid placement, brand advertising, Google Ads, and target marketing. Their success lies in how many people keep coming back to the website to compare products. The process of creating a comparison engine website is to first think of a niche and then looking for collaboration by connecting to the right partners. Next, the monetizing of the engine must be considered, and then the list of features that the comparison engine website would contain. This ensures that the comparison engine is providing value to the shoppers who want to compare products.
Comparison shopping engines are so popular because they help both the customer and retailers. Shoppers are able to compare products without having to open tens of pages. And retailers can directly showcase to the shoppers why their products are better than their competitors. Of course, all comparison shopping engines are not the same. Some enable shoppers to view only price and feature-related information. Other comparison shopping engines show additional information that the shopper can use to make the best decision about which product to ultimately choose from the ones available in the market.
Customers who look on comparison websites are usually ones who are interested in buying the product. Hence, the retailers whose products are shown on these websites have an advantage because they have a higher chance of being noticed by shoppers. It is a way for retailers to show they have better features or they provide better value than their competitors. Generally, shoppers who are interested in buying the products compare prices because the price is one of the topmost factors in whether they choose to buy or not. In this case, price comparison engines can come in handy because comparison can be done in minutes. Even retailers optimizes the prices with the help of AI based price optimizer software. Its becoming really important for the retailer to show not low but smart pricing these days.
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