| Price Comparison Internet Sites for Company Decision Making July 17, 2006 I. Introduction. The purpose of this article is to identify Internet sites that can quickly provide to companies prices on products. The Yahoo and Google search engines were used to find these Internet sites. Sites are only included if the prices provided for products are currently offered prices. And only sites are included that will deliver up the prices on products while the user is at the site, without the user having to provide any identifying personal or company information. Therefore, sites that will provide “quotes” are not included in this article. Such “quote” sites, found in the researching for this article, always require the user to provide identifying information, before “quotes” are forwarded (provided) to the user. Although using “quote” sites might be extremely useful for some situations needing price information, the emphasis in this article is on identifying sites that provide “immediate” price information, without the need for further contact from the provider of the information. Sites are only included that seem to be “neutral”. Neutral means that the sites generally provide price information on more than one product and generally seem not to be promoting or favoring one product over another. Therefore, no company sites providing their own prices are included in this article. Although price data provided at individual company sites might be useful and reliable, this article is attempting to identify sites with more rapid price comparison opportunities. II. Two Powerful Sites. The two sites that I found that include substantial amounts of price comparisons for a wide range of business and industrial products are the Google site Froogle (http://froogle.google.com) and the eBay business site (http://business.ebay.com). Both of these sites contain such business and industrial categories as: construction; food service; retail; industrial electrical; industrial supply; and manufacturing. Many subcategories are under each category. Both of these sites provide useful information on the products, in addition to prices. And both site have good search tools, another feature that help the user quickly find pricing information. III. “Consumer” Price Comparison Sites. Possibly well know to many readers of this article are what I characterize as “consumer” price comparison sites. These include such sites as: Yahoo Shopping (http://shopping.yahoo.com/); Price Grabber (http://www.pricegrabber.com/); Shopzilla (http://www.shopzilla.com/); and many more. Most of these, if not all, do provide prices on some items of interest to business such as computers and office equipment. And most, if not all, of the sites include a “Home & Garden” category, under which prices can be found on many of the items that a shopper would find at a retailer like Home Depot, which carries many products needed by businesses. Nevertheless, the focuses of these sites seem to be strongly towards the individual consumer, the residential shopper. And none of these sites seem to include the broad range of business and industry equipment and products that the Google Froogle and eBay sites, identified in Section II above, include. But, if you are looking for prices on computers, office equipment, and Home Depot-type products, these price comparison sites are probably excellent sources of such price information. IV. Specialized Sites. This section includes price comparison sites that are “specialized” in the sense that the sites focused on price comparisons for a specific category of product. a. Computer and Electronics Products. CNET provides a site (http://shopper.cnet.com/) at which prices can be found for desktop, laptop, monitors, and most other computer-related products. Prices also are available on products such as: cell phones; office machines; and cameras. b. Automobiles. Kelly Blue Book has this site (http://www.kbb.com/) at which prices can quickly be found on new and used cars. c. Used Industrial Equipment. Two sites, EquipNet (http://www.equipnet.com/mp/default.asp) and Iron Search (http://www.ironsearch.com/IRONSearch/content.aspx), were found to have good listings of used equipment, with prices, in several industrial categories. d. Industrial Space Leasing. LoopNet has a site (http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/ContentIndexPages/ForLease/Industrial/) at which some prices, on a square foot basis, can be obtained for industrial space for lease in most, if not, all states. For a fee, the entire database of lease prices for industrial space is available. Although the "free" price information available is limited, this information at least might be a good indicator of the per square feet rates for the geographical area. V. Conclusions. This article has identified Internet sites at which a company can quickly turn to get price comparisons on products. The sites identified in this article can quickly provide price data on a large range of business-needed products. Probably, a more efficient or effective method (tool) for obtaining such information is not available. Price data should be very important to companies in making purchasing decisions, by helping to reduce expense and increasing purchasing efficiency and effectiveness. Price data should also be important to a company in comparing its own product prices to competitor’s pricing. Although many of the sites in this article may be well known to larger companies, smaller companies may not be as familiar with some of the sites. Also, this article might be a good reminder to smaller companies that such useful information can be fairly easily obtained using the Internet. The sites identified in this article can be linked to from the front page of the Management Accounting Information Center by clicking on the front page “Accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, and working capital” and then “Accounts Payable”, then “Purchasing”, and then “Websites providing price comparisons for business products”. please click here to comment on this article or suggest topics for other related articles please click here to go to the Management Accounting Information Center homepage |
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