How to Create a Price Comparison Website: The Definitive Guide

Introduction

Have you been thinking of starting an online website? Feel confused what's the best niche to get into?

The online retail industry is continuously seeing an increase in the number of digital shoppers. They want to grab the deals with the best possible price by comparing it using special websites like price comparison sites.

Such web-based price comparison portals help customers make affordable choices. Plus, price comparison website development is comparatively easy, and doesn't require much investment. Also, the maintenance cost is too low.

Moreover, the shrewd implementation can help attract more traffic and bring in high revenue and profits. The only thing you’d need to do is find a buzz-worthy and interesting niche that can pull customers in.

While it’s one of the trending business models, most people don’t know how much it costs or what are the steps involved in website creation. They are also unaware of features to include in price comparison website development.

This guide provides you with a comprehensive view and gives you a brief overview of the market size. So, let's begin.

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Brief Market Overview of Price Comparison Websites

Developing a price comparison site today is equivalent to hitting a goldmine. And the following statistics agree with this:

• According to Statista, 61 to 75% of the UK population aged above 25 have used price comparison websites at least once in their life.
• Another research found that 69% of the UK consumers use price comparison websites to research financial services.
• Also, price comparison sites empower almost 76% of the UK consumers to make purchase decisions.

Thanks to the convenience and reliable information these websites offer, you can gain immense profits and support from consumers. And the above statistics also signify the same.

These statistics are enough to convince you to build a price comparison website of your own. But before you do so, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Things To Remember Before Designing A Price Comparison Website

Even though price comparison website development in UK seems like hitting a jackpot, you must keep these things in mind:

• 1. Choose a Niche: They say “Riches are in the Niches”. And when it comes to price comparison sites, selecting the right niche is all the more important.
• 2. Find Affiliate Programs: After the niche selection, find affiliate programs relevant to your niche. Affiliate programs are the important revenue generation source for websites.
• 3. Develop a Business Model: Develop a unique business model that defines key USPs of your price comparison portal to make it distinct and stand out from the rest.
• 4. Prepare a Detailed Plan: Last thing to remember is to prepare a detailed design plan that includes costing, website design timeline, among other things.

Incorporate these tips to develop a price comparison website that helps you achieve impressive results.

Now, let’s move on to the essential part of the article i.e., how much does it cost to create a price comparison website:

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How Much Does It Cost to Build a Price Comparison Website?

The cost of developing a price comparison website can range anywhere between £20,000 to £125,000+.

Price comparison website development cost depends on several factors such as type of team, location of the team, their expertise level, and functions to develop.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the price comparison website development project:

Cost Breakdown Based on the Type of Web Development Team

The cost breakdown will vary depending on the type of team you employ and the expertise they hold.

For instance, hiring an in-house team would be costly because it’ll involve employee salaries, office space rent, and other such operational costs. Another costliest option would be to go for a local development agency.

On the other hand, outsourcing to an established agency like Intelivita would be a cost-effective choice. You can even go for freelancers but they are highly unreliable at times.

Here’s how much each option will cost:

Cost Breakdown Based on the Location of the Website Development Team

Cost of site development from the UK-based web development company is almost comparably the same as that of other major countries. Even so, development firms in the US charge much higher rates than the UK or other countries.

Here’s a cost breakdown of the same by location of price comparison web development team:

Though the rates for price comparison website development vary from location to location, the quality of the app remains the same. The difference is due to the cost of living and ease of lifestyle at different locations vary depending on numerous factors.

4 Step Guide to Developing a Price Comparison Website

The first step for how to create a price comparison website requires a team of apt developers and designers. They’ll deal with many technicalities and take care of how to design a price comparison website from scratch.

Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide to developing a price comparison website:

1. Discovery Phase

The first and foremost step involves gathering specific requirements, getting the team ready, and building goals to achieve from the website development. Doing so will give you a framework of how to create a price comparison website.

You’ll also find relevant and biggest competitors and aggregators that help you get the latest data and product price changes. Below is the ideal workflow you must touch upon during the discovery phase:

• Prepare a conceptual idea and understanding of your project.
• Find and filter out relevant niches.
• Research the market and target audience needs, and how your platform will fit in.
• What’s the earliest deadline based on the scope of work.
• Discover and hire the right team for prototype and wireframing.

Another aspect to take care of is preparing a detailed sitemap that describes the relations of different areas of your website. Doing so will help you discover how usable the final product will be.

Also, sitemaps help you understand the internal structure of your website and delve into how the user interface would look like. That’s where the design phase kicks in.

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2. Design Phase

Often the most overlooked part of the price comparison website development and design phase is the most vital step in the list. Your ideas on how to design a price comparison website start to take shape in this step.

The team you select begins working on creating design wireframes and prototypes that will later translate into your website.

The design is the most sacrosanct part of your website and majorly affects the user experience. Thus, it’s one of the complex processes that needs careful planning and execution as one error can lead to a chain of errors.

The deliverables from this phase should help add aesthetic elements to your price comparison website. In addition, the designers will prepare different layouts that suit your niche.

These layouts present a structure and demonstrate the basic functionalities to ensure everything is in order. Depending on your preferences, you can select the right layouts for your price comparison website development.

3. Development and Testing Phase

The development and testing parts are the most crucial steps for the success of your project. This stage involves choosing the best-fit technology, platforms, and frameworks that speed up the development process.

The team of web developers you hired will commence the development and transform your price comparison website development vision into reality. They will write hundreds and thousands of lines of code to bring your dream to life.

The outcome of writing such a massive amount of code will be a user-friendly portal that can be scaled as required. Also, it must include the necessary features and functions as agreed upon.

Testing is another important aspect of your website. Ensure that there are no broken links or that the website does not crash unexpectedly.

Use code validators and other tools to check if your code follows the standard web development practices.

After you test, check, and verify that everything is in order, the next step is to upload your website on the server and make it live. Once live, the price comparison website will require continuous maintenance.

4. Website Launch & Maintenance

Now that you have developed a highly intuitive and appealing website, the next stage is to go live and give the world access to your website.

Your price comparison website is more like a service than a product and it regularly needs maintenance. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that once developed and live, it doesn’t need to be updated frequently.

You may have to innovate and update your website functionality to seem trendy among your users. Also, make sure everything works fine and users are well satisfied with your website user experience.

For the same, you can implement a feedback system for users to detect and notify issues with your website functionality. Make it your priority to fix such issues and assure your website users that such occurrences won’t be repeated.

Price Comparison Website Features

While there are many features and functionalities to include in your price comparison website, here are some of the essential ones you must include:

• Facilitate users with accounts they can register and sign in.
• Allow customers to manage and customize profiles.
• Product listings to help users find products or services to compare prices.
• Include search and filter options for customers to easily navigate your website database to find specific products.
• Allow customers to leave reviews and ratings for a particular product.
• Price history and notification features are essential to provide users with insights about product’s past prices and notify them when the price drops again.
• You can also go ahead and integrate social media, QR, and barcode.
• Further, introduce a reward program to keep customers loyal to your brand.
• Integrate payment gateway for smooth payment processing.

Conclusion

Building a price comparison website is no child’s play as it’s going to be the primary source of revenue for your business. A functional and feature-rich comparison site helps users save time and make informed decisions.

However, developing such a feature-rich portal requires hands of experts and a notable investment from your end. That’s where the team of Intelivita comes in.

Our team of highly qualified and vetted professionals help you build a price comparison website exactly as you need.

Contact us to consult our experts on the subject and get a detailed estimation for your price comparison website development project.