Before making a purchase, consumers who are smart take the time to research a product and its retailer thoroughly. For decades, this has been the case with consumers. It was not uncommon for them to wander from shop to shop, searching for products, comparing features, quality, cost, companies, and everything else that had to do with a purchase before they made the decision.
Having grown up in an age where consumers are more internet savvy, it is not surprising that smart consumers are on the rise. To make their purchasing decisions, consumers still conduct product comparisons with all the information available at their fingertips. It is true that not all buying decisions require comparisons to be made. Consumers are likely to compare products like electronics and appliances, streaming devices, smartphones, vehicles, cosmetics, home decor items, and even vacations before buying toothpaste, yet it is extremely rare that they will do extensive research before purchasing toothpaste.
To plan how to boost visibility with these customers who are actively looking for sellers, business owners need to grasp these different consumer comparison patterns. Let’s examine how buyers compare pricing to decide which products to buy.
The Conventional Method
Utilizing the advice of their loved ones, friends, and acquaintances is the age-old method of product comparison that many consumers still utilise. If they know of anyone who has purchased a comparable item, they will inquire about their experience to get advice on what to buy.
Online directories
Many shoppers just Google the item they want to purchase and conduct further research on the different websites that sell it. They’ll probably buy it from the website with the best price. It’s crucial to remember that Amazon is now more than just an online store; it now serves as a search engine. As a result, it needs to be considered in your marketing strategies.
Search Engines that are Vertical
websites that compare prices, in other words. Today, there are a wide variety of comparison shopping websites, such as Google Shopping, GoBazzar, a service I provide, PriceGrabber, etc. Customers can search for products on these vertical search engines, and the results display all the retail and e-commerce websites that sell them, along with the prices they are being offered.
Price Evaluation
Numerous comparison shopping apps and website, etc., have also been developed in addition to comparison shopping websites. This choice is popular among users who use mobile devices exclusively.
Again, working with price comparison websites makes life simpler for everyone involved and gives companies access to app channels. Ensure that your website is Google and Google Shopping optimised, and that your product titles and meta descriptions are clear and easy to read so that Google crawlers can understand them. Search terms like american tourister vs samsonite are examples of comparisons.
Online Reviews
Customers turn to review websites if they don’t know anyone who has purchased a product identical to the one they want to buy. Consumers can review items and companies on a variety of review and information platforms, including Angie’s List, Quora, Trustpilot, etc. Before making a purchase, many customers read reviews of a particular product or the retail website that sells it.
How to Improve Your Reviews
Businesses should allow people to become community influencers or voices like Google has done with Local Guides, just as marketplaces have allowed firms to establish their brands within their infrastructures. Encourage users to follow one another, recognize users with various “badges,” and, depending on the badge, provide discounts to customers. Offering badges to customers who submit reviews for a product they recently bought, whether on your product page or a third-party website, maybe one practical way to improve reviews.
These are some of the methods used by consumers to compare goods and costs nowadays. With the aid of these technologies, customers can quickly evaluate pricing and make judgments, and astute companies can adapt to their needs.
