Pricing comparisons - should I put them online?

[Crazy_Fool]

one of my clients asked me to check his main competitors pricing today - it's a small market for his products, so there are only a handful of competitors, mostly small businesses.

as my client now appears to be considerably cheaper than his competitors, he thought it would be a good idea to put pricing comparisons online. should we do it? does anyone else do it, and if so, has it caused any problems?

[agerhart]

Pricing comparisons are a good way to show your potential customer that you are the right place to be buying the product....there is nothing wrong with showing price comparisons. It will only help.

What I am not so sure of is if you should label them.

[TallTroll]

The only point to be wary of is that you will be displaying info on your site that you have no direct control over (competitor pricing). If he drops his prices, he can make you look like you are trying to make out that your competitors are more expensive than thet really are.

Its a devious tactic, but in a small market it could work, because a potential client could presumably find all of the relevant sites quite quickly to compare them.

If you and/or your client are on the ball, and keep a fairly close eye on the other sites, you should do well. Otherwise, I'd be a bit cautious

[seofan]

Pricing comparisons have been used in many successful campaigns - but tastefully done. It is very important to word the comparison information so that it represents the client in a professional manner. More harm than good can be done if the information is displayed in a braggart, overly boastful or taunting manner.

[john316]

<<as my client now appears to be considerably cheaper than his competitors, he thought it would be a good idea to put pricing comparisons online.<<

Another thought; tell your client to raise his prices and make a better service pitch.

Also by posting his competitors pricing, you can be pretty sure that the most folks will check the competitions site to make sure you are being truthful. Do you want to encourage visits to the competition?

[Crazy_Fool]

thanks for the input ... as an example of the price differences, a competitor is charging $225 + postage for a particular liquid product, yet my client is charging £11 (about $16) including postage for the same. same competitor is charging $2.20 + $6.50 shipping for a small product, while my client is charging £10 including worldwide airmail postage 32 times the amount of the same type of product.

i don't think there's anything to be worried about with people looking at the competitors site as the prices there are extortionate. we can get around the price drop thing by saying "these prices were correct as of (date)" and maybe add in a screenshot or two. i'm more concerned with not giving them any link value!

i'm slightly concerned that if we get it wrong, we could be open to legal action, which of course, we would like to avoid. having said that, i don't think the other competitors would have the finance to follow through with that. anyone have any thoughts on the legal issues?

[Reflect]

A little off topic but we do "suggested retail" and then in red "our price". I do the tech side my partner does all else. She mentioned that if you do this you have to be able to prove that the product did really sell for that price. We use the catalogs from our wholesalers that show suggested retail. We then make sure to save all catalogs.

Brian

[sun818]

How about screenshots of the final checkout page with a clear total? You can keep the buyers on your web site this way and still show competitor prices.