As one study states, 90% of people planning to buy digital gadgets use special aggregators before making a purchase. They want to find the cheapest option before deciding in favor of a particular product. The same goes for other goods and services, both in online or offline stores. That’s why the size of the price comparison websites market is constantly growing, making it a profitable startup idea. This article will guide you on how to start a price comparison website, providing the most relevant information and useful tips.
What Is a Price Comparison Website, and Why Is It in Demand?
Let’s clarify: these websites don’t sell any products. They collect data on the product prices. Also, they usually provide the user with additional information such as a brief description, availability in stores, the product’s rating, and reviews. Thus, consumers get to compare prices and other important characteristics of the product or service. Price comparison websites (PCW) are especially handy when it comes to significant purchases like buying flights or choosing a new laptop. In these cases, it’s hard to make a choice without deep research.
Niches for Price Comparison Sites
When you think about a price comparison site, things like smartphones or laptops come to mind. But actually, there are various niches that you can enter with aggregating websites. Here are some main examples:
- Flights, like Google Flights, Momondo, Kayak.
- Specific services. For example, Parcel2GO can help customers find the most advantageous deal on parcel delivery in the UK. Another example is NerdWallet – a site for personal finance that compares prices on specific financial services, like getting credit cards and personal loans. It also provides a lot of useful information on taxes and so on.
- Clothing, like the Fashiola website.
- Supermarkets, like MySupermarket.
- Education, like The Good School Guide.
- The search for hotels, like Trivago.
- Gaming products, like CheapShark or Gocdkeys.
- Makeup products, like Cosmetify.
- Digital gadgets, like Smartprix.
- Travel resources, like CruiseCritic.Of course, there are giants in this market that compare products belonging to different niches like Google Shopping, Shopzilla, and others.
How Do Price Comparison Websites Make Money
Most price comparison sites use the affiliate monetization model – Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC). Customers visit online stores through aggregators by referral links, and suppliers pay the PCW owners commission. You can sign up for affiliate programs created by popular retailers:
- Amazon Associates
- eBay Partner Network
- Walmart
- Target
- Best Buy
You can also choose affiliate networks that many companies use to manage their affiliate programs. Here are some of them:
- CJ Affiliate
- ShareASale
- FlexOffers
AvangateOther options for generating profit include:
- Commission from the order placed. You get the commission if the customer makes an order on your partner’s site. So it’s a Pay-Per Order type of monetization.
- Google Ads. It’s hard to find a PCW that doesn’t take advantage of this. The more popular your site is, the more your earnings will be.
- Paid placement. In this case, you can collect money from sellers in return for their products being placed on your site.
- Brand advertising. Certain brands pay you for the placement of their advertising offers at the top of your listings. For the brand owner to be interested in such cooperation, your PCW must be in high demand.
- Target marketing. PCW provides the perfect source of valuable information about consumer needs. Analyzing their behavior can help vendors in improving their targeted advertisements.
The best thing about PCW is that you can combine several of the monetization methods mentioned above to increase your profit.
How Price Comparison Websites Collect Data
Since fresh and valid information is at the heart of any price comparison site, let’s talk about how to obtain it.
Must-Have Features For a Price Comparison Website
After you’ve chosen your niche, monetization model, and the method of filling your site with information, it’s time to think about all the necessary features your platform should include. Here’s the table with the most common features of PCW below.
After you’ve selected the features for your future website, it’s time to make its prototype and design. There are two stages of prototyping:
- Creating a low-fidelity prototype – a general website model visualizing all features and layout elements. With it, you can check and test the platform’s functionality.
- Creating a high-fidelity prototype that has detailed UI design, real content, and real interactivity. At this point, the testing starts that will let you fix overlooked bugs.
Then you can move to MVP development. A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the earliest version of the platform that you can launch on the market.
How Much Does It Cost to Make a Price Comparison Website
The cost to develop a price comparison site can be estimated depending on which path you want to take in its development. There are two main options which both have advantages and disadvantages.
Final Words
Now that you’re armored with all the key information on the question “How to build a comparison website?” It’s time for action. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to hire freelance experts or find an outsourcing company. If you’re going the latter route, take your time to choose the right one.
Attract Group team has extensive experience in creating price comparison websites of different complexities and functionality. You can rely on the expertise of our web developers who will be glad to answer all your questions. Don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your business ideas!
