Vendio, best known for its eBay gallery tool and sales and inventory software, made a move into the buyer space today with its new downloadable comparison shopping Web browser toolbar, Dealio. The Dealio Toolbar will initially provide coverage for a wide range of consumer electronics products available from online merchants of all sizes, according to a company statement, with additional product categories added in the coming months.

The Dealio Toolbar is free to consumers, and is quick and easy to install and use, according to Vendio. After downloading and installing the toolbar, the user sees the Dealio logo added to the navigation bar near the top of the their browser. Once a user locates a specific item while shopping online, the Dealio Toolbar then automatically alerts the user to the lowest prices on the Web for that item. Clicking on that "alert" in the navigation bar opens a sidebar within the browser window, providing the consumer with a list of alternative sites where they can purchase the same product, and the prices at which the product is available at those sites.

"Unlike existing comparison shopping websites, the Dealio Toolbar travels with a consumer throughout the Web, providing comparative shopping data while the consumer is actively shopping for a particular product at an e-commerce destination. In this way, the Dealio Toolbar provides more contextual and timelier opportunities for merchants to reach truly qualified buyers with precise product offerings," Vendio said in a released statement today.

"Furthermore, because listing on the Dealio Toolbar is free to merchants and product shopping search results are listed by lowest price first, the search process is completely democratic - many other comparison shopping solutions sell all of their listings and drive consumers to the merchants who are paying the most, not necessarily those providing the best value to the consumer. This practice often confuses consumers and generates less qualified leads to merchants," it continued.

Level Playing Field for Small Merchants
In an interview with ECommerce Guide on Tuesday, Vendio CEO and founder Rodrigo Sales said the new toolbar is designed to "take all the work out of comparison shopping."

"In interviews with consumers, we found that people would spend a lot of time searching around for bigger items. But, for smaller items they wouldn't necessarily take the time. They might only save $3 to $4. We created a product that enables consumers to do what they would normally do. Once they arrive at specific product page, then the Dealio toolbar appears and shows them total price for that exact same item," he said.

Sales added that Vendio's research found that while many consumers try comparison shopping sites, many more use Google or other search engines when looking for a product. That results in merchants often paying multiple times for the same shopper if they advertise on shopping comparison sites and search engines.

"In the e-commerce space — generally through a Pay-Per-Click or listing fee combined with Final Value fee — you find most merchants are paying 8-15% for a sale," Sales said.

However, the Dealio Toolbar now levels the playing field between small and large merchants, said Sales.

"On the merchant side — especially the small and medium-sized merchants — it (Dealio) gets their products in front of consumers. They have the ability to compete," he said.

When asked if the release of the Dealio Toolbar meant Vendio would not launch its own shopping comparison site - similar to shopping.com — Sales said, "Eventually we may do something on a web site, but our primary focus is that we're looking to drive downloads and installs of applications. It's not currently on the road map."

For the remainder of 2005, Vendio is accepting product listings from online merchants at no charge as the company aims to provide the most comprehensive comparison shopping service on the Web. The Dealio Toolbar has attracted a number of online retailers during its closed beta program, including Sony, Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon.com, Circuit City, Dell, Best Buy, Overstock.com and CompUSA.

The Dealio Toolbar can find you a deal in no time. Photo: Dealio.com (Click for larger image)

Sales told ECommerce Guide that Vendio has no plans to charge for standard placement in the Dealio Toolbar, but may look to charge for the top two sponsored links.

"Only thing we're possibly considering is a small setup fee. The quality of listings is important. We don't want people to just put junk up there," he said.

According to the company, the Dealio Toolbar is not spyware or adware — it does not track 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.

The Dealio product catalog is powered by CNET, the same catalog used by top commerce and shopping sites, the company says on its web site.

"It provides standardized, up-to-date product information such as product descriptions, titles, and images so you don't have to. Using proprietary ExactMatch technology, Dealio ensures that each product imported is matched with the same product from our product catalog," says Vendio.

"By initially focusing the Dealio Toolbar on the consumer electronics category and gradually expanding our reach into other categories, we're taking a long-term approach to delivering the ultimate comparison shopping utility. At the same time, we're providing very thorough coverage for the most popular hard goods category on the Web - nearly everyone buys consumer electronics products on an annual basis, and with the significant amount of competition among online merchants, a tremendous opportunity exists to provide measurable value to the consumer," the company added.

ECommerce Guide downloaded the latest beta version of the Dealio Toolbar available and found it worked exactly as advertised. We searched for televisions and digital cameras at CircuitCity.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com and each item page resulted in an immediate alert. The installation process was simple and quick.

The Dealio Toolbar is currently only available for Windows Internet Explorer. However, Sales told ECommerce Guide that Firefox and Macintosh version are in development and will be released at a later date.

For more information: http://www.dealio.com or http://www.vendio.com.

Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor for ECommerce-Guide.com.