Stealing Your Competitor's Customers with Price Comparison Advertising

[mandy]

Price-comparison ads help businesses lure consumers away from the sites of their rivals.

Have you ever dreamed of marching into a competitor's business, sidling up to a customer, and whispering in her ear that she could get a better price at your place? Stop dreaming. For marketers on the Web, that fantasy tactic is now within reach.

There's a new breed of comparison-shopping software that lets businesses target potential customers when they're browsing for products on the sites of competitors, giving marketers a chance to lure buyers away with better deals. Say a shopper is browsing at an online store. When she clicks on a specific product, the software generates an ad featuring links to vendors offering the same item for lower prices. It's similar to a bargain-hunting site, such as Shopping.com--except that it offers competitive prices wherever consumers shop...

full article: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060401/han...eting.html