Erichsen Horner

Price tag comparison websites are taking over the net. It has never been less difficult to purchase inexpensive DVDs, CDs, fridges etc. The likes of Kelkoo and Purchasing.com dominate the paid advertising on the search engines and are promoted heavily through MSN and Yahoo where the cost comparison is provided as a service to customers.

But this is not a service, this is elite advertising for the couple of, and what is being provided is not a full image, but a partial view, primarily based on who is ready to spend to be noticed. We discovered buy business energy by browsing Yahoo. These internet sites are trading below false pretences. They do not support you locate the least expensive DVDs, CDs, fridges and so forth. They support you locate the ideal discount amongst retailers who pay to promote on their web site and that is a Massive difference.

While this may be nicely identified amongst marketers, retailers and the like, it is my powerful view that most customers have no concept. What reinforces this for me is the information that the primary cost comparison websites offer a shop the chance to appear very first in the price final results for a distinct solution if they are prepared to spend a greater expense per click And guess what? It functions! Paying a greater click price results in far more visits and the conversion rate doesnt drop a bit!

That tells me that consumers either arent making use of the sites properly or the final results are being displayed in such a way as to maximise the revenue for the price comparison website rather than the saving for the user.

To my naive utilitarian notions of the future of the Web this strategy seems the absolute antithesis of what the World wide web is all about. Details is power. Controlling details is as a result extremely lucrative. But controlling/withholding data is by no means a constructive factor for those who rely on it.

By utilizing aggressive advertising tactics and large budgets these bloated glorified link farms have set themselves up as the middle men of web retailing. Corrupt and greedy they willingly dupe the user to maximise their personal interest while claiming to be the shoppers champion!

So what is the answer? Primarily price comparison sites are a wonderful notion and need to highlight all that is appropriate with the Net, it is the spend per click element that ha