Procedure of Comparison Shopping

Shopping is a time consuming activity especially when one is faced with a budget constraint and/or unfamiliarity of the product or service one is seeking. In this aspect, comparison shopping is the safest thing to do. The shoppers need to gather information about the product and/or service to be purchased; and most importantly the quality and price information. In the traditional commerce world, the quality and price information are often hard to find, hence, buyers need to deal with retailers or product specialists to get them. Then there is the question of biased information. 

Since the information explosion brought on by the Internet, Internet commerce or e-commerce has developed a unique advantage for online shopping, that is the availability of product information. The vast amount of information about products came from the following main sources:

• merchants or retailers who provide product information in order to attract customers and compete in a relatively fairer playing field - online shopping

• buyers who voluntarily provide product information, buying experience and user comments on products they have researched and/or purchased

• third party advocating consumer protection who offer forum and publish analyses about products and/or merchants.

• neutral shopping sites such as the MWSearch online shopping mart where comparison shopping information is presented so that shoppers can make the product comparison before committing to a purchase    

The philosophy behind MWSearch Online Shopping Mart is to provide a convenient shopping mart for shoppers to purchase what they need at a fair price and for merchants to sell their products with minimum overhead. MWSearch will make selection of merchants based on their reputation, product quality and fair pricing. MWSearch encourages all shoppers to practice comparison shopping, to share their shopping experience with other shoppers and offer their comments and suggestions to MWSearch. MWSearch will constantly review whether any merchant or business is worthy to be included in its shopping mart. MWSearch will also cooperate with and support merchants in dealing with frauds in e-commerce, since frauds essentially add costs to the merchants and ultimately to the shoppers.

In the following, we outline a recommended procedure of comparison shopping for MWSearch shoppers. We believe by following this procedure, shoppers will be getting reliable goods and services at a fair price. The procedure is as follows:

• Think about what it is you really need or want - Name the product and/or service

• Research the product and/or service on the Internet to gather its basic information: function, manufacturer and varieties

• Visit web sites which provide price comparisons (Note, do not take for granted the price information is all correct. unfortunately, some of these sites providing price comparison also sell products hence may have a bias in presenting the information. Furthermore, price is not the only factor the shoppers should consider, reliability of the merchant, availability date, additional hidden charges such as shipping, handling even taxes should be considered as well.)

• Select your large shopping site which carry multiple competitors to make the purchase (Note: Go directly to the merchant's web site may not get your best price since many merchants offer the large shopping sites special discounts and coupons which are only available through clicking through the large shopping sites. In the large shopping site, a merchant is usually mindful of other competitors price offerings on the same product.)  

• Develop your favorable large shopping sites through your buying experience and book mark them. Subscribe to their products newsletters so you will be informed with their special offers.

The above procedure is for shoppers who more or less know what they would like to purchase. For those who don't know what they want to get but do need to make a purchase (for example, selecting a birthday gift for father, mother or a friend), the best procedure is to first make a visit to a large shopping site to do a general browsing. Let the mouse do the walking to find some ideas of things you may consider. Then follow the procedures outlined above to nail down the item and make the purchase.  

In the following we list a number of web sites which offer price comparisons and also sell products. MWSearch does not have any relationship with these sites. MWSearch is not endorsing them nor have any specific opinion on them. They are provided for MWSearch shoppers so they may save time in doing the due diligence in following the above recommended procedure of comparison shopping. There are many more web sites one can find through search engines which offer price comparison on various products and services.

Compare Prices and Ratings at BizRate  
Stop searching and start shopping. Click here and you'll find comparison shopping at great online stores, as rated by millions of customers like you.
www.bizrate.com

RebatePlace: Compare Rebates and Prices  
Find manufacturer rebates for $10, $50, $100 or more cash back on computer hardware, software and electronics. Then compare prices at several online merchants for coupons and great savings.
rebateplace.com

The Price Guide UK - Compare UK Prices  
The Price Guide UK, with over 450,000 prices of 350 retailers, is a large price-comparison site in the UK. It compares the prices of virtually anything from online and offline merchants.
www.priceguideuk.com

Compare New and Used Book Prices  
CampusBooks.com compares new and used book prices, including shipping, sales tax, and coupons at dozens of bookstores. Compare used book buyback prices too.
www.campusbooks.com

PriceGrabber.com

Compare products and prices, read reviews and sell your things

Shopping.Com

First find, then compare and then buy. 

New MWSearch shoppers are reminded to browse the following helpful information before engaging in online shopping: 

Advice To Online Shoppers

This chapter contains general advice about online shopping. Click here to access the chapter and the references included.

Reviews By Online Shoppers and Experts 

This chapter contains reviews and comments about online shopping. Click here to access the chapter and the references included.

• Word of Mouth

TIPS for Online Shoppers

This chapter contains tips for online shopping. Click here to access the chapter and its references.