E-commerce has made the experience of shopping for products and services much less time consuming and more efficient. All in all it allows for a more comfortable buying experience. One can compare product features, prices and after sales service without leaving your home. Purchase decisions can be made with a lot more information and less risk. Within minutes of searching for information on popular products one can have access to various user accounts and actual experiences. Since the trend of online product evaluation and assessment has taken off, many websites have sprung up offering users handy comparison tools.

Pricerunner is one example thereof. It is a price comparison website where users can compare the prices and features of a number of items online. Products which can be sourced through Pricerunner include clothing, accessories, furniture, appliances, electronics, computers and much more. Information on almost any consumer item worth shopping around for is available on the Pricerunner website. None of the items listed for comparison are available for sale from Pricerunner thus ensuring that information provided is without bias and does not favour any particular supplier. Pricerunner has experienced international success. In addition to the UK website they also have websites for the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. www.pricerunner.co,uk has been analysed with a view to exploring the various factors which contributed to widespread success.

The price runner website has recently undergone a complete facelift. Their look and feel was broken down, scrutinised and with the input of actual users improved remarkably. Management at Pricerunner did not hold back employing the best technology available to understand user behaviour and in so doing to satisfy their needs more effectively. The Pricerunner logo reminds me a little bit of the yellow pages one. I am not sure if that is entirely coincidental or a deliberate effort at association. Either way it is an effective logo which visually expresses their name and embodies their brand very well.

The entire site uses a white background, with black and blue texts. Various shades of blue and orange give the site an interesting appearance. I personally liked the design and layout of information. Not only is it easy to use it is also pleasing to look at. Because the website uses colour in a minimal way it allows the user to focus more on the actual products being compared and not get caught up by the colours of the website.

One is able to find information easily and using alternative paths. Users have a choice between using the search tool or the product categories listed down the left side of the page. Navigation is made simple but not overdone. Although both the top and left side have been utilised for navigation, they do not contain repeats of the same information, a phenomenon which has become very common these days. Only four categories are listed in the top of page navigation and one of them leads directly to the home page. The other three have been used for categories, guides and advice and additional features. This is an indicator oh how much emphasis the Pricerunner website places on navigation and functionality.

The site functions well, providing a fabulous free service to their visitors. In addition to the price comparison functionality which is the main attraction for visitors to the site, they have gone to considerable trouble to provide added functions and features in the form of content as well as interactive forums, discussions and advice. They have also included multimedia functions such as video reviews and a mobile feature which allows users to check prices using their mobile phones.

www.pricerunner.co.uk loads slowly, this may be due to the large amount of product images provided. Images could be further optimised improving loading speeds. They have a high link popularity and low Alexa ranking. It is thus fair to say they have a very high number on incoming links and the site receives large amounts of traffic. There are a number of competing websites who perform very well in the category of online price comparison websites in the UK. Pricerunner currently ranks amongst the bottom of the top ten but is set to improve their ranking in future. They could employ a few more viral and affiliate marketing techniques but in all other respects should continue in the current fashion.

Their success in a highly competitive environment is attributable to the efficient provision of a valuable service as well their focus on content, navigation and functionality.