84% of online consumers comparison shop, but half still find it difficult

The web is a great tool for comparison shopping--and consumers recognize it as such, says new research from BizRate.com, a comparison-shopping site and research company. In a survey last month, 84% of online shoppers told BizRate they comparison shop online at least some of the time, and most said they do it often.

In addition, of consumers who comparison shop, 63% told BizRate they compare prices by going site to site every time or most of the time they shop. 42% told BizRate they use shopping bots to compare prices most of the time or every time.

Despite the existence of shopping bots almost since Day 1 of Internet retailing, a study in December by Jupiter Media Metrix showed that only 10% of online consumers use bots. And even though comparing prices across web sites is easier than traveling from store to store to compare prices, 50% of online comparison shoppers still complained it was too cumbersome to comparison shop online.

BizRate’s Comparison Shopping study was based on 3,254 online shopper respondents at 2,000 e-retailing sites on Feb. 20 and 21.