The consumer then reads through the list of offerings and picks the online merchant with the best price, or using some other criterion such as availability. Big-Ticket Research Analysts say consumers use the Internet to research potential purchases even when they have no intention of buying the items online. That's especially true for big-ticket items, like cars or computers. Comparison-shopping bots can be particularly useful in these purchases because the difference in price can be much more substantial. And as more consumers move to cyberspace, the bots will gain more influence.
Bots are already hot.
The major portal sites are scrambling to acquire comparison-shopping technology, which is seen as a sure way of luring consumers to a Web site. Just last month, America Online Inc. snapped up PersonaLogic Inc., a San Francisco developer of software that guides online shoppers, for an undisclosed amount. And portal sites Excite Inc. and Infoseek Corp. also offer comparison-shopping technology. But the bots are only as good as the information they collect, and several Web merchants have been loath to cooperate with a technology that puts so much pressure on their margins. Some have gone so far as to thwart the bots by feeding them inaccurate or misleading information, or preventing them from entering their sites to gather data.