Member Article

UK consumers unaware price comparison sites don’t give the full picture

Though more than three quarters (77%) of Brits already use online price comparison websites (PCWs), UK shoppers are not aware that most of these websites do not give them the full picture, research by Pricesearcher, explains.

According to original research of 2,000 UK consumers by the independent online search engine, it’s revealed that two fifths (39%) of online shoppers aren’t aware that most PCWs don’t show all the options available in the market because of the costs involved for retailers to list all of their products. The PCW business model is to charge the retailer and so when consumers use one of these sites they are only seeing the products where there is marketing budget to promote them.

On average, UK shoppers will typically visit four websites when researching a product online, with 59% agreeing they would be more likely to make a purchase if they could easily view all of their available options using just one platform.

Samuel Dean, CEO and founder at Pricesearcher, commented: “We know UK shoppers have a keen eye for a bargain – but it’s hard for them to gather the information they need when shopping for a deal online when there are so many online sellers out there”

“Our research shows that 62% use price comparison sites to get the cheapest price but the reality is that currently UK consumers are not being given the full picture of where to get the best deals – and we feel this needs to change”

Dean continues: “We welcome the recent Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) market study into digital comparison tools saying that they should ’‘clearly explain how much of the market they cover’’ and ’‘ensure all advertising is clearly identifiable’’. At present, consumers are only being shown the options of products that retailers are willing to pay for. Our mission is to provide the complete view, and index every single price in the world and make that information searchable by consumers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tim Barton .