Comparison shopping makes progress online

Comparison shopping makes progress online - Technology - International Herald Tribune: "Barry Diller's company, IAC/ InterActiveCorp, among several others, is giving this kind of shopping software a revival. The company recently introduced Pronto, a software application that a user downloads at Pronto.com. Once a user clicks on one of the 50,000 merchants in its database, Pronto silently monitors all of that user's activity on a product page, then shows deals from other merchants on the same items, or similar ones, until it finds a better deal. Then it sends a message prompting the user to click away.

The people behind Pronto, along with those behind other newly minted U.S. offerings from SmartShopper, Dealio, ActiveShopper, NexTag and WhenU, say they believe that this version of shopping software will stand a much better chance than its late-1990s antecedents, thanks to better technology, more high-speed connections and a greater acceptance of alert applications like SideStep, which notifies consumers of better airfare deals."