Comparing Shopping Bots

By Alex Fischer

With 36% of consumers searching for products online, it’s increasingly important for small businesses to focus on their online marketing campaigns. Fortunately, shopping bots (also known as shopping agents or price comparison sites) are both the easiest and one of the cheapest methods for getting your product in front of the expansive Internet audience.

Agents for Success

The big players of price comparison: BizRate, MySimon, Shopping.com and others.

Whether it’s been on TV during the dot-com boom or on billboards or banners, you’ve likely seen ads for the big players of price comparison: BizRate, MySimon, Shopping.com and others. What you may not know is what they do, or how they work. It’s simple—and effective—for both customers and merchants alike.

Shopping bots are like search engines, except rather than gleaning information and returning with results, they find products and prices.

Shopping bots are like search engines, except rather than gleaning information and returning with results, they find products and prices. A customer types in the product they’re looking to buy, and the bot gives a list of possibilities, with product and purchasing information. These sites channel more traffic to merchant Web sites, attract qualified customers, and get the merchant’s name out there, in front of shoppers. They also put competitors side-by-side, making it easy for customers to see which company offers the better choice. Some list by price, but most list based on a pay-for-placement bidding process.

BizRate

The most popular shopping bot, BizRate is a comparison shopping and quality assurance site in one. In addition to offering price and product information, it also runs surveys online and asks customers to rate different businesses and products. When a customer searches for a product, they see a list, with businesses that have paid for placement. It’s a pay-per-click bidding system, with the rate ranging between 10 and 30 cents. In addition, merchants also are required to pay a $100 deposit.

Shopping.com

The final product of a merge between DealTime and Epinions, Shopping.com offers price comparison, product reviews, and shopping guides. Also a PPC bidding system, they require a refundable $200 deposit per listing.

PriceGrabber

PriceGrabber provides the same features as BizRate with one noticeable difference: it’s commission-based. Businesses are charged based on sales, $1for sales under $15, and 7.5% for sales over $15. Additionally, it costs extra to display your company logo with your search results. Even if you think it’s pricey, know that it’s also a favorite among shoppers for its ease-of-use and Product Tracker option.

Froogle

An up-and-coming new feature from Google, Froogle is currently free because it relies on sponsored ads. Basically, all that’s required of the online merchant is a form and use of their Froogle Feeder software. Although it’s still in beta testing (first release), it receives a massive amount of traffic from Google exposure.

MySimon

MySimon is a free shopping agent that searches more than 2,000 sites. To have your site included, you must meet MySimon's criteria: detailed product information, site upload time of eight seconds (28.8 kbps), at least 10 individual products for sale within at least one product category, online ordering and thorough telephone customer service.

Yahoo! Shopping

Yahoo! Shopping is a significant contender. With links from Yahoo! searches, products get major visibility. Also on a PPC system, it costs anywhere from 19 cents to $1.25 per click.

The process of getting your product on a shopping bot is relatively simple, although the specifics may vary from site to site.

The process of getting your product on a shopping bot is relatively simple, although the specifics may vary from site to site. Your first step is finding one that’s right for your business and your product. Browse the categories and perform searches for the types of products you plan to list to get a sense of where your business will best fit.

Next, draft the information you plan to submit to a bot about your business and/or products. Typically, this includes: product name, description, price, and URL. Remember to keep your description clear and compelling to shoppers. This is a form of advertising just as any other! Then, submit it to your bot of choice.

It may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to appear in search results, but once it does, get ready to grab the sales.