Can comparison sites be trusted?
In the past anyone that wanted to look at finding cheaper prices on various products or services had to go to the hassle of ringing around or trawling the shops to try and get a better deal, which was quite frankly an inconvenience that put many people off trying to get a better deal.
This was made easier by the Internet, which enabled consumers to browse and compare products and services from the comfort of their own homes, but could still be quite time consuming because it meant going from one website to another.
However, over the past couple of years the switching market has been revolutionised by the introduction of price comparison sites. There are now many comparison sites in operation, dealing with a wide range of products and services from mobile phones and grocery prices to broadband services, utilities, loans, credit cards, and more.
Consumers are now able to enter details of what they are looking for and the various price comparison sites will bring up a list of potentially suitable products and services along with links to the provider websites and prices, making the whole process far faster, easier, and more convenient.
Whilst comparison sites appear to make browsing and comparing far easier and more convenient for consumers there is still evidence to suggested that consumer are very wary about these sites, and this was proven by a recent survey that was carried out by the consumer campaign group, Which?. The results of the survey showed that only 30 percent of consumers actually trusted comparison sites to find them the best deal possible, and the rest were convinced that the deals that would be flagged up for them would be the ones that earned the most commission for the websites.
More than 50 percent of those surveyed said that although they had used price comparison sites to compare different products and services they had then gone on to buy the product direct from the provider rather than through the comparison site, and around 12 percent said that they had not been happy by the prices that had been quoted to them through the comparison site that they had used.
However, officials have pointed out that some comparison sites can actually help consumers to find a good deal, and in order to get peace of mind consumers should do a little more research into the comparison site.
For instance, if you read the FAQ section or About Us section on the site you can often learn how they make their money, as some will include providers that are not paying them to link to the website.
It is also advisable for consumers to use more than one comparison site, as it is important to bear in mind that not all providers are listed with any one comparison site so using two or three comparison sites can provide you with access to a wider range of service or product providers.
Some people are happy to pay a little extra through a comparison site just for the convenience of having all of the information flagged up in one place, but quite often you can still get some of the most competitive prices through a good and reputable comparison site, so they are definitely worth considering if you want to save yourself the hassle and time involved in going to individual websites.
Tags: uswitch, money expert, online shopping, Information technology management, Electronic commerce, broadband, which
Ultimately, a price comparison site is a great place to start for the consumer, helping them in their journey to find, not necessarily the cheapest, but a better deal for them.
Perhaps it’s consumer perception that needs to be changed? A comparison site should perhaps be seen as a tool to HELP them find the best deal, not necessarily THE way of finding the best deal.
Yes, a comparison site needs to make money and perhaps won’t list the merchants that pay low/no commissions, but any site that wants to be around for the long term shouldn’t highlight or over-emphasise deals that pay the highest commissions. It’s not in the interest of the consumer to do so, and if consumers aren’t finding a better deal than they perhaps otherwise would have, they won’t come back.
There are some I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. GoCompare for example, although that’s more to do with the fact that the adverts get on my nerves. I don’t know about comparethemarket.com but I will confess to having a soft spot for Alexsandr.
But I’ve always used Simplifydigital to compare broadband and my other half used it the other day to find himself a HDTV deal. He seemed pleased. And Simplify’s acreddited by Ofcom, so I trust it.
From last years the comparison sites can help to navigate through complicated financial decisions, gather information and save hours of research searching the internet for the best prices. Apart from these sites provide help to know exactly what their competitors are offering.
But as a customer satisfaction survey, no single website scored any more than 50% and it was discovered that one in four people preferred not to go on to buy through these sites because they had been able to find a cheaper reference themselves elsewhere.