Study: Consumers Pay an Average of 44% More for Consumer Electronics Products Offline Than Online

Study: Consumers Pay an Average of 44% More for Consumer Electronics Products Offline Than Online

Price Comparison Survey Illustrates Sizable Savings Available via Web Purchases

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Vendio(TM), the leading provider of services that empower merchants to reach consumers and manage online transactions, today announced the results of an internal survey conducted over price discrepancies between offline and online retailers for a wide range of popular consumer electronics devices. From camcorders and digital cameras to DVD players and videogame consoles, consumers pay an average of 44.2% more at local retail outlets than they do in online stores.

"For consumer electronics, there are tremendous price gaps between traditional brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers," said Rodrigo Sales, CEO and co-founder of Vendio. "This holiday shopping season, brick-and-mortar stores will garner more last-minute sales because of gift giving deadlines. Our survey shows, however, that consumers can save money by planning their shopping earlier and making purchases online. With tools like the Dealio comparison shopping Toolbar, consumers can make these purchases in less time, and with far less hassle than fighting the crowds at the mall."

In the study, Vendio identified more than a dozen of the most popular consumer electronics products on the market today, and found the lowest online prices for those products via Vendio's Dealio(TM) comparison shopping toolbar ( http://www.dealio.com/ ), which scours the inventories of more than 100,000 online merchants. The company then contacted five local retailers (including some of the largest consumer electronics retail chains in the country) to reach an aggregate offline price* for each of those same products. Among the products included in the survey were the following:

-- Canon Elura 100 camcorder: Lowest online price: $299; Average offline
price: $411.34
-- Canon DC100 camcorder: Lowest online price: $313; Avg. offline price:
$541.24
-- Panasonic PVG 5500 camcorder: Lowest online price: $613.90; Avg.
offline price: $1,082.49
-- Canon PowerShot SD550 digital camera: Lowest online price: $248; Avg.
offline price: $324.74
-- Canon A530 digital camera: Lowest online price: $129.53; Avg. offline
price: $180.05
-- HP M425 digital camera: Lowest online price: $103.95; Avg. offline
price: $146.13
-- Kodak Easyshare C643 digital camera: Lowest online price: $140.95;
Avg. offline price: 248.25
-- Kodak Easyshare Z650 digital camera: Lowest online price: $227; Avg.
offline price: $297.14
-- Xbox 360 videogame console: Lowest online price: $399; Avg. offline
price: $432.99
-- Samsung HD860 DVD player: Lowest online price: $89.98; Avg. offline
price: $107.16
-- Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42-inch Plasma TV: Lowest online price:
$1,522.95; Avg. offline price: $1,984.58
-- Samsung LN-S3241D 32-inch LCD TV: Lowest online price: $969; Avg.
offline price: $1,457.40
-- Pioneer PDP-4270HD 42-inch Plasma TV: Lowest online price: $1,974;
Avg. offline price: $2,922.74

*Prices found via Dealio reflect sales tax and shipping & handling costs. Prices found in brick-and-mortar stores do not include shipping and handling but do reflect an 8.25% CA state sales tax.

Vendio's free Dealio Toolbar(TM) includes several unique features that ensure consumers never overpay online again. Among these is its ability to alert consumers to the lowest price when they are one click from overpaying for virtually anything sold online. The recently added "Deals of the Day" feature presents a "ticker feed" of deals posted on popular deal sites like FatWallet and SlickDeals.

The Dealio Toolbar is free to consumers and is easy to install and use. Dealio can perform automated searches, or users can search manually by keyword. The Dealio Toolbar is not adware or spyware -- it does not record consumers' individual Web movements or adversely affect system or Internet connection performance, and it does not generate pop-ups or any other advertising on a consumer's computer. Dealio is available for download at http://www.dealio.com/ .

About Vendio

Vendio enables merchants to reach consumers, manage transactions, and profitably grow their businesses. Dealio, Vendio's new comparison shopping service, empowers consumers to find the best deals quickly and easily from respected merchants while shopping online. Vendio's award-winning sales management services include Sales Manager Inventory Edition (named by eBay as the most innovative application for the eBay platform in 2005), Vendio Gallery, Vendio Image Hosting, and several other applications that save merchants time and increase their sales.

Vendio was founded in January 1999 and is the independent leader in online sales management. Each month, tens of thousands of small businesses utilize Vendio's sales management and merchandising services to sell over $50MM of products on both their own branded stores as well as the Web's leading marketplaces. In May of 2006, Vendio acquired a majority stake in longtime competitor, Andale. The company is privately held, recently celebrated their third year of profitable growth, and is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Eastern Europe.

NOTE: Vendio, Dealio and Dealio Toolbar are trademarks of Vendio Services, Inc. eBay is a registered trademark of eBay, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners, without intent to infringe.

Source: Vendio

CONTACT: Garth Chouteau of Vendio, +1-415-602-8147, or
garth@gc-comm.com

Web site: http://www.vendio.com/

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