[Internet] Searching for the right price, and what to look out for

Promoting your product in the digital landscape is crucial to the success of your online retail business. E-Commerce is a highly successful industry, and with this prosperity comes a swarm of others seeking to grab a portion of the profits. Much like a traditional, physical business finding a way to differentiate your organization is necessary to gain an advantage over your competitors. A great product can be virtually impossible to see if the consumer is unaware of its existence.

The Digital Marketplace

There are many options when engaging in internet retail services. Creating your own website and allowing natural discovery is an easy method, but provides no guarantee that any customer will notice your content during an average shopping session. Relying on luck as part of your business plan is not a sound course of action, in eCommerce or in any other industry. Posting to public sites can also provide exposure, but serious retailers need assurance that their products are being pushed to the public. Comparison shopping engines can shine a spotlight on your items, giving consumers a chance to purchase a product they might have been otherwise ignorant to.

Benefits

Most online shoppers begin their browsing session with the decision already made to make a purchase. Depending on your business strategy, listing on a comparison shopping engine can allow your organization a chance to provide a clear and defined reason to purchase your product over an identical or substitute product offered by a competitor. Low cost differentiators will find that a direct comparison to other, more expensive, alternatives can lead to the frugal consumer selecting your product. Additionally, those offering higher quality products, or services such as free shipping, can also catch the attention of customers seeking these attributes via listing on a comparison shopping engine.

Industry Leaders

As with most things related to internet services and technology, Google is a major factor in the eCommerce sector. Google Shopping will provide a massive platform to display your products. While more expensive than other providers, no other site generates the amount of viewer traffic offered by Google. Aside from Google, other general search engines also provide online merchants with comparison shopping tools. Bing Shopping follows a similar structure to Google Shopping, allowing for blended search results to prospective consumers. In the blended search result model, general inquiries will also be greeted with potential product sales.

Outside of the traditional search engines, some websites have been created for the sole purpose of creating efficient and effective comparison shopping opportunities. Shopzilla, Pricegrabber and Nextag all ascribe to this focused comparison model. These sites can be considered season veterans in the internet retail sector. Shopzilla was formed in 1996, with Nextag and Pricegrabber both following suit in 1999. With established pedigrees, these sites can generate large scale exposure to your product with millions of viewer hits occurring monthly.

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