What is a price comparison website? The pros and cons for dropshipping

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Price comparison websites are some of the most popular online shopping platforms. Learn how to take advantage of websites such as Google Shopping, Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, and PriceChecker to increase your dropshipping sales. It's easier than you think!

What is a price comparison website?

A price comparison website compares the prices of products from various online sellers. Consumers like price comparison websites for finding the best price for a particular item. It saves time for online shoppers who don't want to visit every retailer website to compare prices themselves.

Examples of price comparison websites

The most well-known price comparison websites include Google Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, Bing Shopping, Idealo, Bizrate, Shopping.com, CamelCamelCamel, Honey, Price.com, and Shopzilla.

How can dropshippers use price comparison websites?

Dropshippers who want to promote their products to a larger audience can use price comparison websites. For example, the price comparison website, Bizrate.com, has 12.9 million visitors to its website each month according to 2024 Similarweb data. Dropshippers can register an account on a price comparison website and pay to list their products. It works in a similar way to pay-per-click advertising (PPC).

Ecommerce retailers who use price comparison websites have a higher chance of their target customers finding and considering their products. Retailers can then put themselves at the same competitive advantage as their business rivals who are also using price comparison websites.

Don't forget that most customers using price comparison websites are ready to buy. They have already decided they want to purchase a particular item and are looking to find which sellers offer the best option. This makes price comparison website users a prime audience who are highly probable to buy your products.

What if my product isn't the most competitive in price?

Does your dropshipping pricing strategy matter when deciding whether to list your products on a price comparison website? You might be worried that your product must be the cheapest in order to sell on these platforms. This is not always true. Consumers consider customer reviews, shipping times, delivery costs, and how much they trust your brand. It's not always the cheapest seller that wins the customers' business.

The benefits of listing products on a price comparison website

There are many benefits to listing your dropshipping products on a price comparison website. These are:

  • Boost your advertising: Using a price comparison website means that your products will be put in front of hundreds of thousands of online consumers.
  • Show up at the top of search engine results: Choosing to list your products on Google Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, or Bing Shopping means that your items will show up at the top of search engine results (SERPs). This gives you a higher chance of more customers clicking on your product.
  • Get more traffic to your dropshipping store: Popular price comparison websites have huge marketing budgets. They attract a massive number of online shoppers, which means you can benefit from a portion of this website traffic going to your dropshipping store.
  • Customers are ready to buy: Online shoppers who use price comparison websites are usually ready to purchase. They have decided on the product they want and are looking for the best seller to buy from.
  • Find out about product trends: See which products are trending by looking at your sales statistics on price comparison websites. You can use these trends to make decisions about other advertising campaigns. For example, a best-selling product on a price comparison website might be a good product to promote via paid adverts on search engines or social media.
  • See what your competitors are doing: Check the pricing of your competitors on price comparison websites.
  • Valuable information for your pricing strategy: You can choose to adjust your pricing in line with your competitors based on their prices on these comparison platforms.
  • List special offers and coupons: Some price comparison websites allow sellers to offer special deals to attract more customers.

The disadvantages of listing products on a price comparison website

These are some risks and downsides to using a price comparison website to consider before using:

  • It can get expensive: How much you pay to advertise your products on price comparison websites varies. It can get expensive depending on current trends, the number of competitors for that product, and how many products you want to list.
  • You might need to install feed management software: Some of these tools for importing and exporting data automatically are premium and are an extra cost to pay for. Having said that, if your product is popular and receives a high volume of clicks, then the cost is covered by the increased number of product sales.
  • High competition: Price comparison websites are extremely popular with big brands who can offer extremely low prices. It might not always be possible to compete on price, however, you can still attract consumer interest by offering excellent customer service, free delivery, and great brand reputation.
  • Extra time and organisation: Using a price comparison website for dropshipping marketing is another channel to manage regularly. Dropshippers will need to make sure they remember to check their listings, test and improve their adverts, and update any special offers.

How to get your dropshipping items on price comparison websites

Google Shopping requires ecommerce retailers to create an account with Google Merchant Centre. Follow the steps by answering questions about your retail business and then start listing your products. The benefits of Google Shopping adverts are they are highly visible, visual, and easy for online customers to quickly get information about your products.

Other price comparison websites such as Idealo and Bizrate require merchant registration. Add the details of your dropshipping business to create an account before you start listing your products.

Conclusion

The pros far outweigh the cons when deciding whether to list your dropshipping items on a price comparison website. These retail platforms are a quick way to market and advertise your dropshipping products to a huge online shopping audience.

The pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model means dropshippers only pay for adverts when a customer clicks on them. By making sure your adverts have enticing product images, engaging product details and features, attractive delivery options, and high customer ratings, you don't need to be the cheapest retailer on the platform to get sales.

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