Online Price Comparison Sites Can Be A Great Resource During Economic Recession

As the financial crisis seems to be here to stay and the American people are guarding their savings like Dobermans, now is a good time to share some money saving tips. Unfortunately we still have to spend money to live. But by doing a little bit of online research before, you will easily be able to find the best prices on any number of products.

The government advises us to consume: It is simply the only way to resolve the current economic recession. But how can we do so when most of us have little money to spend? To avoid a catch 22 here, we have listed some useful resources that will help you do your patriotic duty, only to a cheaper price.

Thanks to the web, monopolies are nowadays rare for most business markets. Resellers and warehouses can no longer set the price they find just and force consumers to accept it. Courtesy of online price comparison sites, the consumer can now easily compare products and businesses based on price and location.

“With more sellers competing for the best spot on global forums such as price comparison sites, prices are inevitably pushed down.” Mark Katz, online business analyst.

Shopping for anything and everything

There are two general price comparison site that lists sellers of any imaginable product. Household items, cameras, computers, office supplies, cars, trips, sports equipment, beauty accessories, gardening tools etc. If you are unsure what you are looking for, these sites are a great starting-point.

PriceRunner.com and PriceGrabber.com are both great consumer guides to alternative resellers. The main difference is the national markets they monitor. PriceRunner.com keeps an eye on most international markets, while PriceGrabber.com is limited to the U.S., Canada, UK, Mexico and Brazil.

Shopping for a specific product

Niche price comparison sites are also available online, although they might be slightly harder to find. The advantages of using a segment specific resource are however many. Taking contact lenses for example, a popular online segment; guides available normally have a stronger partnership with resellers and manufacturers, mainly because of their niche.

Three of the largest contact lens guides at the moment are LensShopper.com, Contactlensesprice.com and Lensprice.com. All three have chosen to focus their work-force on negotiating directly with lens manufacturers about prices and discounts. A site like PriceRunner.com simply has not that kind of time and resources.

So while you are doing your country a favor and keep consuming, our advice is to buy the cheapest product. You can determine this before you go shopping, by logging in to any of these price comparison sites. Whatever the product, contact lenses, cars or cat food, be sure to compare prices first.

Michelle Brown is a web savvy editor currently doing her MBA at King´s College London. She has had articles published on topics ranging from household economy to consumer and marketing ethics.