Pricegrabber Listing Discount Percentages

Pricegrabber users doing searches on items with multiple sellers are now greeted by a colorful badge detailing which merchant is selling it for the cheapest, and the discount they’re getting from the highest seller of the product.

Since one of the main reasons a consumer goes on a comparison shopping engine is to find the lowest price on a product, it certainly is useful not only for consumers but for the merchant who is selling that particular product the cheapest as well. By being highlighted as having the lowest price, a consumer may be more likely drawn to that particular merchant, making the likelihood of a converted sale higher.

However Pricegrabber’s methodology of strictly comparing the lowest price listed to the highest of that product is somewhat questionable, as it is simply comparing one outlier to another–rather than comparing it to an average of all prices.

It also takes attention away from other components such as the user rating, and can mislead users into automatically thinking that the best purchase decision would be from the lowest priced merchant, even if they’ve had questionable reviews from consumers.

That said it’s still a very useful tool and another step in the right direction in improving a consumer’s overall shopping engine experience, which ultimately is what will lead to higher return rates and more sale conversions.