Evolution of Diwali Shopping in India.

Before 1991 – Customers went to the nearest shopping market and bought whichever 1-2 brands were available since there was monopoly.

Before 2009 – Customers hopped with family in tow from shops to shops over the entire weekend coupled with endless bargaining. Only to go back to Shop No 1 in the end.

In 2012 – Customers spent minimum 48 hours on online shopping sites, opened multiple tabs to compare and bookmarked the one product they finally liked to purchase later. Only to discover the discount is no longer available after a week. 48 hours of research starts again.

In present time- Customers now open Online Shopping Comparison site, see the list of sellers in one page and buy from the one offering the highest discount. Done.

As pointed above, just like many things, shopping has evolved too and how! From pre-liberalization monopoly, now it has become an online open market space where customers have tons of options to choose from. So much so, that in the Ecommerce world, each day is a fresh struggle to attract and retain customers. Unbelievable discounts, deals, perks and offers have become a regular thing and consumers now expect to be wooed with better and better deals each day.  This is why Shopping Comparison Engines have become so popular lately in India and why Ecommerce owners should list themselves on it.

Why and how Price Comparison Websites help Ecommerce

Price comparison website or comparison shopping website acts like a search engine where shoppers can sort through products (based on category, price, features etc.) and compare it simultaneously. Once a customer decides to buy a product, he/she is redirected to the owner’s website once they click on ‘Buy’.

All you need to do is register your business with each portal, become their seller and upload your product details on the website. Depending on the results, you will be liable to shell out on Pay Per Performance basis.

Why you need it?

A report was prepared last year by Volusion.com on Comparison Shopping Engines. The findings are as follows:

• 65% of online shoppers spend at least 15 minutes on price comparison websites while making online purchases.
• 95% of online shoppers devote a substantial amount of time to find the best offer & price
• Customers viewing experience on a comparison shopping engine are twice as likely to convert into sale

These three points summarize fittingly the benefits of this tool for Ecommerce businesses. Not only it is a measurable and transparent marketing strategy, but it also helps to gain new customers, reach more people and increase revenue.

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Now that the concept and its benefits are presented, let’s look at the 10 Best Shopping Comparison Engines in India to Increase Ecommerce Sales:

1.    Junglee

An arm of Amazon (though it works independently and neutrally), Junglee is one of the biggest price comparison websites in India. It caters to a broad spectrum of categories such as Mobile & Accessories, Clothes, Toys, Books, Home Appliances, Health, Beauty and even Grocery. In an interview published on NextBigWhat.com, Mahendra Nerurkar, GM of Junglee had shared that they get 10 million visits per month. Including Amazon, they have approximately 1700 sellers (online shopping sites and brick-and-mortar stores for few categories) listed on their website! Additionally, one can directly buy Amazon products from Junglee without being redirected.

2.   MySmartPrice

A Hyderabad based company, MySmartPrice was launched in 2010. They have about 40 online shopping sites listed on their engine and a whopping 17 million user visits along with 11 million unique users per month. Products from categories namely, Mobiles, Tablets, Laptops & Accessories, Fashion, Home and Kids can be compared on this portal. Visitors also get deals, discounts, offers and coupons that can be redeemed while shopping. More categories and features will be added as Sulakhsan Kumar, co-founder and director of MySmartPrice had said to Business Standard that their future plan is to double their GMV (gross merchandise value) by adding more categories.

3.   PriceDekho

PriceDekho is one of the preferred search engines for evaluating gadgets. This Jaipur, Rajasthan based company has products listed for other categories too such as Lifestyle, Appliances and Accessories. But they are widely used for comparing mobile phones, laptops, tablets and similar electronic products. The site which was launched in 2010 witnesses over 6 million regular monthly visits and has more than 50,000 products listed, both by online as well as offline retailers.

4.   PricePanda

A Rocket Internet venture, PricePanda operates in many South East Asian and Latin American countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, Mexico, Philippines, India and Indonesia. The product categories that you can compare on this website are Cameras, Computers, Gaming, Electronics, Books, Men/Women Fashion & Care and many more. It was launched in India only this year but they have had a successful run in other countries since its inception in 2012.

5.   CompareIndia

This engine is a venture of IBNLive. As of now, you can weigh up electrical equipments on CompareIndia. They have Mobiles, Home Appliances, Computers, Accessories and much more listed on their portal. Few of the sellers on this engine are Homeshop18, Futurebazaar, Croma and Snapdeal.

6.   Naaptol

Founded in the year 2008, Naaptol is one the early players in India. You can pretty much find and compare anything because they have an amazing range of products listed. Right from Car Accessories to Jewellery, from Cameras to Maternity needs, everything is under one roof. Earlier it was just a comparing engine but now it’s a full-fledged comparison based social shopping portal.

7.   Compare raja

More than 10 categories, 100+ online stores, 10000+ products, Compareraja has gained popularity in a short span of 2 years. A part of Logicserve Digital Ltd, they have over 1 lakh add-on users and an impressive presence on social media. Some of the featured stores are Infibeam, Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, IndiaTimeShopping, eBay, Amazon and Homeshop18.

8.   ShoppingWish/Scandid

With focus on mobile shopping primarily, ShoppingWish launched their app, Scandid last year. A Pune based venture, Scandid is a mobile barcode scanner compatible with Android and iOS that helps you to compare and shop offline and online products across 8 categories. In an interview published on YourStory, Madhur Khandelwal, co-founder, Scandid said, “Couple of months after the launch, we figured that completely focusing on mobile first shopping experiences is the only way to create something novel and different.”

9. Grabon

Just a year old company, Grabon has managed to attract many popular online shopping sites such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, PayTM, RedBus, Fabfurnish, Healthkart, and many more. A Hyderabad based start-up, you can sieve through 20+ categories on Grabon including Adult, Education, Sports, Recharge & Travel and get your hands on exciting coupons. Their success level is reflected by the fact that they are one of the top five players in this segment now and plan to go global by next year.

10. Smartprix

Delhi based Smartprix is another website that largely focuses on mobile phones. A gamut of mobile brands is listed on this portal, which are labelled neatly under various features in order to help viewers filter their search easily and effectively.  They also cater to other categories such as Books, Personal Care, Mobile & Laptop Accessories, Cameras, Tablets and Laptops.

So whether you have a small business or a large one, take advantage of Shopping Comparison Engines to increase your sales and augment visibility of your brand. To squeeze out maximum benefits, pair it with good quality SEO rich content, traffic boosting tools and interesting offers.

What’s your take on comparison search engines? Have you used any? Are they helpful? Leave us your feedback, views and suggestions below.