Comparison Shopping
This morning while having my morning coffee and watching FOX
News, I saw a segment about comparison-shopping. The segment was
talking about how this was the 'latest craze' on the internet.
Where have they been?
One of the really neat things about the internet is that more
and more business partnerships and affiliations are popping up
all over the place. Although this is old news to veteran
internet surfers, this is finally making its way into the
mainstream news! Finally, sites like ours and many, many others
get the recognition they deserve.
Through partnerships and affiliations many businesses are made
possible today. With the downsizing of corporate America many
more people are starting their own business. The ability to
offer comparison-shopping on our web site is a huge benefit to
me, a business owner, as well as to you the customer. Business
as well as residential consumers all benefit. Generally
speaking, when you come across a site that offers
comparison-shopping you get a price as good as or better than if
you went right to the vendors themselves. In addition, at least
on our site, there are additional perks by purchasing your items
through a comparison-shopping site. Unbiased product or service
information, cash rebates, free shipping, another level of
product support, etc.
If you were looking for a television, stereo, DVD, CD, etc.
would you shop around? What about big-ticket items like home
appliances, cars and even houses? Sure you would. You'd want the
best price, quality and service you could find. You're a smart
shopper.
Comparison-shopping has been going on ever since commerce began!
Just because there's now an E (for electronic) placed before the
commerce (e-commerce) shouldn't make any difference at all. Ok,
there is a one BIG difference. You can comparison shop from the
comfort of your own home. No longer is it necessary to drive
around to all the different stores, remember or write down the
price, perks, warranty information and on and on for each
product or service you're looking for.
Ok, so you've found a site and are considering a purchase. The
little voice inside warns you about going through with it. You
don't know this company. What happens if this internet site your
considering goes away or goes out of business?
There are many large retail stores that sell the products and
services from multiple vendors' right? Those vendors honor the
service and warranty. Those vendors support the product. The
large retail store has made arrangements with those vendors to
offer the product or services to you the consumer. It's the same
thing with comparison-shopping online stores or even brokered
services such as ours.
An electronic storefront or office is really the same thing as
its brick and mortar counterpart.
I'm glad to see that the television news finally understands
what we've known for a long time. Comparison-shopping for
products and services is smart. Whether you do it by driving
around to each different store, or surf different web sites, it
just makes sense.