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Posted by mikelaker on 07/17/06 17:38
Price comparison sites are taking over the internet. It has seemingly
never been easier to find the lowest online price for any product with
services that claim to scour the net to find the lowest price at any
retailer. However, most consumers are not aware of the deals that
result in pricier retailers being given preference over their lower
price competitors. UKHotMovies.com reveals the truth.
The likes of Kelkoo and Shopping.com dominate the paid advertising on
the search engines and are promoted heavily through Yahoo (owner of
Kelkoo) and MSN. The price comparison is presented as a non-commercial
"service" to users.
But they are not a free and impartial service: when you dig deeper it
becomes apparent that this is elite advertising for the few. What is
being offered is not a complete picture, but a partial view based on
who is prepared to pay to be seen. These sites are trading under almost
false pretences. They do not help you find the cheapest DVDs, CDs or
fridges. They help you find the best discount amongst retailers who pay
to advertise on their site and that is a big difference.
Even worse, the main price comparison sites offer a shop the
opportunity to appear first in the price results for a particular
product if they are prepared to pay a higher cost per click to receive
visitors to their site.
The results are usually not shown in price order and so many people
just click the top advertiser. That tells us that consumers either
aren't using the sites correctly or the results are being displayed
in such a way as to maximise the revenue for the price comparison site
rather than the saving for the user.
To what may be some people's naive utilitarian notions of the future of
the Internet this approach appears the absolute antithesis of what the
Internet is all about. Information is power. Controlling information is
therefore extremely lucrative. But controlling/withholding information
is never a beneficial thing for those who rely on it.
By using aggressive and often dubious marketing tactics and huge
budgets these bloated link farms have set themselves up as the middle
men of internet retailing. Corrupt and greedy, they willingly dupe
their user to maximise their own interest whilst claiming to be the
consumer's champions.
So what is the answer? Essentially price comparison sites are a
fantastic idea and should stand for all that is right with the
Internet. It is the pay per click element that has led the key ones
astray.
The future lies in impartial services. Those that are based on earning
commission for a sale rather than simply driving traffic towards the
most valuable target. Affiliate marketing, which usually pays solely
per sale, and price comparison sites are the obvious pairing going
forward. Any there are a few excellent ones around. For example, have a
look at http://www.CashBackers.co.uk and search for "Lost Series1".
While Kelkoo only shows seven results, Cashbackers shows 20 UK DVD
shops - and the cheapest DVD is better value than at the former. The
results appear on Cashbackers in in half the time of Kelkoo, partly
because it is not littered with advertising.
Using affiliate programs to list stores rather than requiring hefty
click sums ensures that a lot of smaller or newer shops can be listed.
And as these are the ones that will often be promoting on price rather
than brand and marketing budget, they are exactly the shops that should
be on a price comparison site to benefit the consumer.
As these comparison shopping sites grow along with consumer awareness,
no doubt things will improve and consumers will be able to enjoy the
maximum benefit of comparison shopping.
Site mentioned in the article: http://www.CashBackers.co.uk
© Copyright July 2006, http://www.UKHotMovies.com. All rights
reserved.
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