PriceJump tool helps shoppers beat Amazon

Amazon’s reputation as the online low price leader has come under attack from opponents of its dynamic pricing model and now a new tool from Savings.com is designed to help shoppers thwart the online giant’s algorithms.

PriceJump is the creation of Savings.com, a Web site that contends it gives shoppers the best deals on everything they want. The new service instantly compares Amazon product prices to prices around the web, dispelling the myth that Amazon always offers the best deals, according to Savings.com.

"Savings.com was founded on the belief that we can harness the power of the Internet to find consumers the best deals on everything they want," said Loren Bendele, president of Savings.com. "With the launch of PriceJump, we are reinforcing this mission, specifically with the Amazon consumer in mind. There are many reasons why shoppers increasingly default to Amazon as the starting point to their online shopping experience, and now with PriceJump, these shoppers will also know if Amazon has the best price, or not."

No retailer always has the lowest price and while Amazon has a reputation for offering low prices its dynamic pricing model means shoppers have to be wary. Savings.com said it documented the “myth” of Amazon’s low prices with a study conducted on May 20, 2014, at 5:09 P.M. PST. The study compared the prices of approximately 1,500 bestselling Amazon products that had equivalent UPC codes on other retailers' sites. Products were chosen, without prior consideration, from the most popular categories based on Amazon's bestsellers list, costing $10 or more on Amazon. Amazon's prices were then compared with other online retailers to determine which had the lowest price and half the time Saving.com said its PriceJump tool was able to find a better price.

The savings were most dramatic on items costing more than $100, with the PriceJump tool finding a price lower than Amazon’s 70% of the time, according to the study. The tool couldn’t be easier to use. The URL or product page on Amazon is entered into the PriceJump search box and then the tool searches more than 5,000 online sources in order to provide accurate and competitive pricing information, according to Savings.com.

Savings.com and PriceJump are part of Cox Target Media, the company behind Valpak and Valpak.com., which in turn is a subsidiary of Cox Media Group.