Use of price comparison sites on the increase

Price comparison sites have been used this year by nearly two-thirds (59%) of those who responded to Marketingweek.co.uk’s latest online poll.

Meerkat

More people are turning to price comparison sites to help them make a decision on switching financial products or energy suppliers. Price comparison sites have had increased traffic from consumers looking to cut back during the recession.

Many of the sites have launched major marketing campaigns to gain or hold market share and to try to create a brand identity.

Comparethemarket.com’s “Comparethemeerkat” campaign, launched in January, has proved popular, boosting market share, traffic and sales for the company.

The site has enjoyed a 189% rise in sales since September, while traffic increased 200% year-on-year in the second quarter. The campaign’s “star”, Aleksandr the meerkat has also attracted almost 500,000 fans on Facebook.

The success of the Meerkat campaign has prompted others into action with rival GoCompare recently launching its own character-led campaign starring the opera-singing Gio Compario.

Confused.com and Moneysupermarket.com have also both maintained a strong marketing presence this year with the latter recently launching a campaign featuring Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones.

However, the rising traffic to the sites has not yet translated into a new owner for uSwitch, which was put up for sale by its American owner Scripps Networks Interactive in June.

Recommended

From rags to riches

Stuart Turner

The rise of eBay and the economic slowdown has seen second-hand goods reach new heights of popularity. But age, sex and income still dictate the types of used items we buy.