IDG Contributor Network: Amazon successfully fights off pricebots

One big downside of the plethora of e-commerce shopping bots out there today is that they create the impression of a difference when there may not be one. If I may give my two cents’ worth, is a two-cent difference meaningful, especially when shipping prices are far more than that?

Significant difference or not, shoppers love them. And even more importantly, they act on them. When a bot lists a product and shows 20 different sites, the ranking by lowest price is almost always selected. After price, reputation and customer reviews can play a role, but none persuade as effectively as price.

That’s why Walmart, which wears its tagline about having the lowest prices the way Marley’s Ghost wears his chains (each one is weighed down by bad decisions made years ago), takes pricebots so seriously. Unfortunately for Walmart, so does Amazon. And Amazon doesn’t seem to care one bit for Walmart’s price trackers — and chose to block them all.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here