
// Development
How to Make a Price Comparison Websites
// Development
Price Comparison Websites (PCW) save time and money so it’s no wonder, that 85% of online shoppers use them to find the best deal before making the final choice for a particular seller. Even less surprisingly, such sites are becoming more and more - they make a profit out of the blue! Today we will talk about how to create a price comparison site and make it successful.
From the article you will learn:
If you are familiar with such a market, create a price comparison site for it. Otherwise, choose two of the three criteria. So, insurance, loans, real estate, cosmetics, video games and some other markets have high rates of demand and conversion, but there is a lot of competition. Markets such as handicrafts (not the market as a whole, but individual product categories) and location-based services have high conversion rates and less competition, but less demand for them.
Here are some examples of niche PCW projects you can note:
API integration. Receiving information directly from retailers. Your system will send requests via the API to the sites of trading platforms, get the necessary data (price, availability, colors, images, delivery terms, etc.) and enter them into your database. This is a simple and convenient method that allows you to get accurate and relevant information.
API integration is not an easy option. We need money and time, and there may be difficulties associated with the specifics of individual sites and / or product categories. Fortunately, recently sites are starting to make listings according to industry standards (retail, insurance, real estate, travel, etc.), this simplifies the task with the integration of API.
It’s worth using this method if most price providers use APIs and are ready to give you access to them. In most cases, you will get access for free, because in this way sellers can increase sales without doing anything. To withdraw the commission will need to connect to the affiliate program of the store, for example, to Amazon Associates. eBay, Alibaba and other large marketplaces also have affiliate programs.
Web scraping. Collecting information through web scanners (or spiders), who with a certain frequency visit pre-selected sites and "scrape" the necessary data for your database. A fairly common method that allows you to collect information from all sites, if their design meets certain criteria (or a spider is configured for this design) and if these sites have not set up protection against spiders (a frequent occurrence).
Web scraping is used where there is no developed market for affiliate marketing (affiliate programs and integration via API). In addition, it can be useful to quickly grow the database to the level of competitors.
Manual addition from retailers feeds. Sellers who do not have an API can provide you with information about their listings as XML and CSV files or enter information manually. If you use XML and CSV files, you will need employees who will transfer data from them to your database. If sellers will enter information themselves, then this will require the appropriate interface.
This approach is used when it comes to products and services with static prices (insurance, loans, digital services) or when the list is made up of experts. The latter option is characteristic where prices are simply not enough. For example, when choosing a credit card, the user will want to know its advantages and disadvantages, whether there are hidden charges or unacceptable additional conditions - an expert opinion is necessary for all this.
Manual add by buyers. A rare method that is used to increase the relevance and accuracy of prices. Usually this function is an element of feedback and serves to identify problems collecting information by other methods. For example, if you used web scraping and some site introduced protection from it. It is important to have people to check the information from users, since this function can be used in competition, for example, to increase the value of competitors' goods.
Listing Comparison and Listing Information Pages. The first is a listing showing prices, short descriptions and small photos. Clicking on the list, the user will go to the detailed description of the product or the seller’s website to make a purchase. The characteristics and product image are taken from the databases where they come in using one of the information collection methods.
Price alert. Allows you to track the change in value for the selected or best products in the listing. It can be subtracted in the form of push-notifications, SMS or email. Some sites provide users with the ability to specify a price limit, at the intersection of which you need to send a notification.
Awards. Glasses and badges (TripAdvisor) cashback, gift cards, discount coupons (Pricewatch) and gift distribution motivate people to make more purchases. There can be a lot of such ways to encourage people. The best option is to participate in the draw with a 50/50 probability of reward, even if it is a trifle.
Scan QR code and bar code. Helps buyers compare prices in local stores using a smartphone camera. Implemented on ShopSavvy and BuyVia sites.