The importance of online intermediaries to compare prices is covered in Chapter 2. But how important are sites for comparing prices, which are the most popular, how do people find them and what is the importance for retailers competing for these phrases?

This article Work-in-progress to be completed.

Most popular sites for prices compare in UK

According to Comscore the most popular sites for prices compare in the UK by reach:

• Kelkoo
• Price.com
• Shopping.com
• Froogle

Methods of finding price comparison sites

The Google traffic Estimator shows that for the UK, these are the most important price comparison intermediaries (broad matches):

• Cheap : 18,000 to 20,000
  
• Best : 5,000 to 6,000
  
• Review : 1,500 to 2,000
  
• Compare prices : 600 to 800
  
• Ratings : 150 average

The "cheap" qualifier is very commonly used for initial searches about categories, for example:

• cheap mobile : 300 clicks / day
• compare mobile: 35 clicks / day
• review mobile : 15 clicks / day

 

• cheap laptops : 160 clicks / day
• compare laptops : 4 clicks / day
• review laptops : 3 clicks / day

Of course, this may be a challenge for retailers who don't want to cheapen themselves by using on-page search engine optimisation to attract visitors. It is one of the main drivers for attracting site visitors.

How many consumers are price driven?

Research suggests that the number of consumers actively seeking products by price is lower than would be expected. Many satisfice or make do.

Many divert using voucher sites.

Keywords

Compare prices, prices compare, price comparison, price reviews