June 5, 2006

Overall, the World Wide Web has made it relatively easy for people to shop online and in certain cases to help them find some of the very best deals when buying a specific product or service.

CSSEs (Comparison Shopping Search Engines) gather various amounts of data such as product pricing, features, details and shipment costs from different suppliers and vendors. CSSEs then present that detailed information to prospective buyers.

However, while some may think consumers are getting complete buying surveys from unbiased sources, most times they are being offered snapshots of various products from vendors with a strong interest in promoting their specific products.

Brian Smith, an analyst with market research firm ComparisonEngines.com says that "Comparison shopping can be fun and helpful, but like with any other purchase, along with their use comes the warning label: Buyer Beware".

Such a warning resonates with a fast-growing number of consumers. E-commerce purchases have been growing at a very steady rate. Overall, Internet sales grew by 24 percent last year, according to market research firm eMarketer. That growth has lead to more use of CSSEs.

Jeffrey Grau, a senior analyst at eMarketer says "Once users are comfortable with eCommerce shopping, they then take it to the next level and start to work with comparison shopping engines".

Suppliers and vendors have been trying to make their products more appealing. As the search engines have become more popular, even more retailers are participating in these services. "Retailers had been leery of using these services because they felt that they competed with their own online stores," noted Patti Freeman Evans, a senior analyst with market research firm JupiterResearch.

"That thinking has been changing as large retailers realized that comparison sites can drive significant traffic to their own online stores while sparing consumers the task of jumping from site to site in search of the best deal."

The comparison shopping vendors have been improving their data feeds, so it has become easier for online comparison-shopping services to collect up-to-date product data.

Increasingly, the comparison-shopping sites provide users with a well stocked and organized department store. Some sites offer easy access to product research, shipping and "true costs" calculators. Others serve up coupons and highlight free shipping deals or generous return policies.

As a result, comparison sites that once catered only to techies in search of low prices on gadgets, such as laptop computers and digital cameras, have gained broader appeal.

"Comparison shopping vendors have been focusing more on marketing their services to women, who tend to be the primary group making purchases," ComparisonEngines.com's Smith told the E-Commerce Times. Consequently, the range of products available has been growing to include items like blenders and baby car seats as well as traditional electronics products.

Comparison shopping engine vendors have developed new services to support wireless devices, such as cell phones. Mobile searching also offers users new functions: they can have their camera phones scan bar codes with their phones for instant price checks. Scanbuy and NextCode have developed such features and comparison shopping engineers are reportedly ready to incorporate them into their services.

The improvements have attracted more customers, which in turn has lured the industry titans into the market: Microsoft, Google and Yahoo all have been trying to build up businesses in this segment.

Google's comparison-shopping site, Froogle, added local search to its offerings. With Froogle's local service, merchants with brick-and-mortar stores can upload data feeds of their inventory. Once users enter their zip codes, they can search for items near their home or office. "Yahoo has been pushing users from its search services to its comparison shopping engine," eMarketer's Grau told the E-Commerce Times.

To compete, smaller vendors have been adding more sites to their searches. "The newer shopping comparison search engines scan hundreds of thousands of merchant listings compared to the tens of thousands found with most services," said ComparisonEngines.com's Smith.

While the comparison search engines have many alluring features, they also have weaknesses, some of which may surprise customers. The most glaring is the fact that their searches are neither all inclusive nor unbiased. Most often, comparison shopping engines have arrangements with various vendors, so their partners' merchandise is displayed first.

Many of these sites include user reviews as well -- but the value of these can be questionable. Users should be aware that some vendors may doctor the reviews, often writing reviews of their own products to present them in a most favorable light, or skewering the competition with unfavorable entries about their offerings.

Source: TechNewsWorld