Comparison Shopping Engines: How Important Are They?

Today’s consumers have so many options to choose from, and they can easily locate the best price via comparison shopping engines (CSEs).

As a shopper, you’re probably familiar with the CSEs yourself. For the ones that are not, here’s how they work.

Shoppers browse products they want and they’re shown a number of products from different retailers. They can then compare prices, shipping costs and product details from all the sellers—you have to get listed for it—in one page.

As an online retailer, there are several reasons why you need to know about CSEs. In this post, we’ll dive into the details of what CSEs mean for an ecommerce business, and we’ll learn the most popular CSEs in

• US
• UK
• Canada
• Australia

Why CSEs matter to online retailers

Ranking at the top on a CSE is a great way to drive traffic to a website. Because they’re among the top-ranking websites in almost every corner of the world.

But apart from that, offering competitive prices is a way to advertise your brand without spending a penny. It’s an opportunity for SMBs to gain greater visibility.

In a way, their very large audience gets familiar with your store, even if they don’t buy from you immediately.

Make sure your pages are listed on these websites. If a CSE doesn’t list your prices, contact them and let them know you’re in the game, too.

Some of these websites are open to sponsorship agreements. Spare some money from your marketing budget for these websites and see if this type of advertising works for you. Start with a small amount of money and increase if it works for you.

Sometimes they might not show your prices accurately, when some malfunction occurs in their scraping engines.

Monitor their data to detect inaccuracies before they bother customers. Let them know that you’re working on the problem.

If you can’t locate the source of the problem, provide the CSE with your current prices manually and notify them of the price changes.

Now that we fully grasp why CSEs matter a great deal to online retailers, let’s learn the popular CSEs operating in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

United States

Google Shopping

Being the giant they are, it makes sense that Google is one of the largest comparison shopping engines out there.

When looking for products their search feature is intuitive as it feels just the same as doing a normal google search.

If you do decide you want your products to be featured on Google’s shopping engine, then you need to sign up for the merchant center and upload your products either manually or through an FTP.

Google Shopping exists in every country where Google is accessible.

Amazon

Although they’re not specifically a comparison shopping site, it makes sense to include Amazon here.

Their business model is very similar to the other comparison shopping engines listed here.

As an eCommerce owner you can manually or bulk (through FTP) upload your products to be listed on Amazon.com or any Amazon in your country.

This is usually done through Amazon’s Product Ads feature that allows you to set a budget and pay per click through to your product page.

Shopzilla

Shopzilla’s product selection is so large, so is the competition.

For consumers, their platform is intuitive and similar to others they may have come across. One important feature to note is their shipping feature.

You’re able to enter your zip code to find specific shipping costs for your area.

Bizrate

Bizrate is a platform that goes beyond simply searching for specific products. They allow their users to set specific alerts for products they’re interested in.

If you use dynamic pricing as a strategy, Bizrate could be a good platform for your business as it will alert interested customers when your product drops to a certain price.

• Bizrate also operates in the UK.

PriceGrabber

PriceGrabber has millions of different products listed on their website amongst many categories.

When you land on the search result page, you’re presented with a number of relevant products. Here, you can look through the range of options, filter your results to get a tailored experience, or read the reviews.

• PriceGrabber also operates in the UK.

Shopping.com

Shopping.com is owned by eBay. 

Not only do they have a category search filter, but they have automated search suggestions. This means as you’re typing, Shopping.com will show you potential ideas you might be looking for. It’s a great UX trick to help people find what they’re looking for quickly.

One benefit of this website is that it has a wide range of filter options making it easy to find what you’re looking for. As well as that, they show the reviews right on the page, meaning, you immediately get a glimpse as to which products you’d like to investigate further.

• Shopping.com also operates in the UK.

Yahoo! shopping

The website not only offers a price comparison service but also provides cashback from numerous popular stores.

The percentage of the cashback varies for different stores, and the website displays what shoppers can get from each store on a single page.

Shoppers can also create wishlists. The website even offers ‘ideas to add’ on a wishlist.

PRICEPIRATES

This comparison shopping engine compares prices from various websites, shows the shipping costs and even displays the refurbished prices of the product that is searched for.

They have apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

On the main page, you can see a selection of the most popular products.

United Kingdom

PriceSpy

PriceSpy is a UK based CSE that offers many products within various categories. The website is one of the best addresses for gamers since they have a special category called ‘gamer zone’ in which gamers can find anything they need from monitors to gaming chairs.

On their main page, they display popular products, daily deals, and newly released products that are updated frequently.

Shoppers can create wish lists and set alerts that notify price drops and changes in stock.

PriceRunner

PriceRunner is a well-designed catchall CSE that we’ve found every product that we’ve looked for in the past.

Shoppers can conduct the most comprehensive price search on this website with a few simple steps.

PriceRunner’s product recommendations are to the point as well as fun to read.

Shoppers are welcome to engage in their website via product reviews and they even get badges and appear on a leaderboard displayed on the main page.

camelcamelcamel

camelcamelcamel is a free Amazon price tracker shoppers can use to get e-mail and Twitter alerts when a product’s price drops on Amazon.

Users can also see a historical price chart for the products, top daily and weekly drops in percentage or pounds.

• camelcamelcamel also operates in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

idealo

idealo is an award-winning CSE that guarantees accurate price information from over 30,000 stores.

The website shows product specifications, price history, reviews, and delivery-included prices.

Visitors are offered e-mail notifications when the price drops to their targeted price, after they complete a single step, entering their e-mails to the pop-up screen.

Skinflint

On Skinflint, users can compare prices in several countries in Europe including the UK, as well as conducting general price searches in the European market.

Shoppers can create wish lists to turn back later and view the top products for each product category.

Canada

SHOPBOT

SHOPBOT is a Canadian price comparison website that provides its users with a wide range of products.

They create blog posts aimed at helping customers make better purchasing decisions.

The website has an energetic and easy-to-use design that adds to its appeal.

-Shopbot also operates in Australia.

PriceBat

PriceBat is a Canada-only CSE that Canadian shoppers can use to compare prices.

Products on this website are mainly consumer electronics.

shoptoit

This website not only compares prices from numerous stores but also helps shoppers find local stores within a province they select.

Furthermore, they display deals and discounts for various types of services, including manifold SaaS.

Australia

PAYLESSDEAL

The site offers a variety of gift recommendations, ranging from bouquets, plants, art, wine, etc.

It’s the perfect place to find interesting and uncommon gifts, as well as gift ideas.

They also have a news corner to share with customers their product selection from different categories.

Getprice

Getprice is an Australian CSE that compares prices from 1100 stores. The website lists popular products on the main page with a glimpse of the top deals and top brands.

They provide users with buying guides to help them choose the best match for their needs and interests.

Shoppers can receive fortnightly newsletters on the latest deals, exclusive discounts and the hottest new products.

Gimme.com.au

With a simple design, this website compares prices for various products.

Gift baskets, vines, wedding supplies, movies, and music are among the categories on this website.

PRICE HIPSTER

The Australian price comparison website focuses on four product categories. Namely, grocery, health&beauty, home&garden, and baby&kids.

You can create a dashboard by adding products of which prices you want to follow and receive alerts when the prices change.

The site displays the old price along with the new deal, and it has an interesting and dynamic design.

When users start typing something in the search bar, the related products are listed below simultaneously.

Quick Takeaways

CSEs make life easier for shoppers. SMBs benefit from them, too.  When competitively priced their products, they get a chance to appear above the retail giants and reach a huge audience.

We’ve listed the commonly used CSEs in four countries and explained their unique characteristics. Visit these websites and make sure your products are listed on all the sites that matter to your business.