Dollar's Loss is Shoppers' Gain: Global Price Comparison Study Reveals Bargains Just in Time for the Holidays
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30,
2007--ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) today announced the results of
the sixth annual international price comparison study conducted by its
PriceRunner comparison shopping division.
Beijing, China tops the list of places with the lowest prices, and
Oslo, Norway ranks as the city with the highest. Not surprisingly, the
study found relatively low prices for several items in the United
States as a result of a weaker dollar.
The study, conducted between October 1 and 12, provides the
average offline store prices for 26 consumer products, ranging from
everyday items such as gasoline and milk to the cost of a Big Mac, an
adult movie ticket and popular consumer electronics items such as the
Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Apple iPod Classic. Average
online prices for products available on the PriceRunner.com site were
also included.
In all, 29 cities worldwide were studied to determine price
variations between each country and within seven of the most populated
cities in all regions of the United States, including Atlanta,
Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle.
"By combining our comparison shopping expertise from
PriceRunner.com and Smarter.com, this year's study included prices
from China and Japan, making it an even more comprehensive study,"
said John Ardis, vice president, corporate strategy, ValueClick, Inc.
"With our global footprint for comparison shopping, the study reflects
our commitment to helping people make the best purchase decisions,
whether online or offline."
U.S. Highlights
The low value of the dollar makes the U.S. an attractive tourist
destination for products from digital cameras to children's toys.
Houston, Texas is the eighth cheapest city compared to all 29 cities
and has the lowest prices in the U.S. for gasoline, movie tickets and
condoms.
If you are heading to New York, you can get a great deal on the
Canon Digital IXUS 850 digital camera. The cost of it in the Big Apple
is $298.11, compared to $360.47 in Beijing, China. Or, if a trip to
these destinations is too far to travel, the average online price in
the United States is $257.86 and can be made tax-free. In fact, more
international shoppers are seeking out products online in the U.S., as
evidenced by traffic leaving PriceRunner.co.uk for its U.S.
counterpart PriceRunner.com having increased 92 percent since last
year's study.
You can find some good deals in the United States as five out of
the 26 products were the cheapest here, including: Transformers Helmet
in Denver, DVD player LG BH100 in Houston, Flatscreen LCD TV:
Panasonic Viera TX-32LXD70 in Houston, Seagate FreeAgent Pro in Miami
and a Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS silver digital camera in Manhattan.
Europe Highlights
Oslo continues to remain on top of the list as the most expensive
city in Europe. Of the 26 items included in the study, Norway was most
expensive for 11 of them. The average price for one gallon of gasoline
in the United Kingdom is almost $8 with France topping the poll at
about $8.50.
The average price of a cinema ticket in the UK is a staggering
$18.15, compared to Hungary where a night at the movies is just $6.40.
London is the second most expensive city overall, with the Brits
paying more for a vast array of consumer goods, including mobile
handsets and other gadgets; with devices like the Microsoft Xbox
costing $550 in the UK, compared to just $329 in Tokyo and $364 in New
York.
Although London is still one of the most expensive places to buy
condoms, prices have been steadily falling. In 2003, 12 Durex condoms
would have set you back $19, whereas now they cost just $15.45.
Shanghai has the best global price on condoms with 12 costing only
$4.63.
For the most expensive prices, avoid Norway. Norway tops the list
in 11 of the 26 products.
Asia Highlights
For the first time, the study included three cities from Asia -
Tokyo, Shanghai and the Olympic city Beijing. Tokyo was the cheapest
for half of the surveyed electronic products, including Apple iPod
Classic (80 GB black), Microsoft Xbox 360 Premium (20GB), Nintendo Wii
and the Sony HDR-SR7 video camera (60 GB). Beijing and Shanghai were
the least expensive in nine out of 13 consumer products. For consumer
products such as gasoline, Coca Cola, diapers, Big Macs and bus
tickets, Beijing is the place to go. Shanghai is affordable for other
items such as condoms, cigarettes and tampons.
About The Study
Where possible, three prices were collected for each product and
the mean average was used as the country's price for the product. No
less than two prices per product per country have been used, with the
exception of those products where prices are standardized, e.g.
alcohol in Sweden or McDonalds. Prices, in most cases were collected
from multiple-outlet retailer stores, to ensure that they are as
closely representative of each country's typical prices as possible.
The store prices were collected October 1-12, 2007 and include
sales tax. Exchanges rates were from the Federal Reserve,
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/Hist/ during Oct. 8-12,
2007.
The store prices were collected by PriceRunner and Smarter.com
employees across 29 cities. The cities included:
Percent
cheaper/more
expensive
compared to
Ranking international
2007 average.
----------------------------------------------- ------- --------------
Beijing 1 -47%
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Lithuania 2 -40%
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Shanghai 3 -38%
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Poland 4 -23%
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Czech Republic 5 -23%
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Portugal 6 -22%
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Hungary 7 -22%
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Houston 8 -20%
----------------------------------------------- ------- --------------
Los Angeles 9 -17%
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Miami 10 -10%
----------------------------------------------- ------- --------------
Spain 11 -8%
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Denver 12 -7%
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Greece 13 -6%
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Tokyo 14 -3%
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New York 15 -2%
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Chicago 16 -2%
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Italy 17 0%
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Seattle 18 1%
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Austria 19 7%
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Netherlands 20 7%
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Belgium 21 7%
----------------------------------------------- ------- --------------
Germany 22 13%
----------------------------------------------- ------- --------------
Finland 23 17%
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Ireland 24 21%
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Denmark 25 30%
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France 26 31%
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Sweden 27 34%
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England 28 38%
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Norway 29 83%
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International average based on common product
availability in the 29 cities
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About ValueClick, Inc.
ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world's largest
online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and
scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for
advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick's
performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential
through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and
search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and
email technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include
Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and
Smarter.com. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.
About PriceRunner.com
PriceRunner.com is an internationally acclaimed comparison
shopping engine that provides consumers with easy access to
comprehensive buying information on a wide variety of products.
PriceRunner aggregates product details, user and expert product
reviews, retailer ratings, as well as the best available prices in one
convenient location. PriceRunner distinguishes itself from other
comparison shopping engines by providing consumers with the broadest
price comparisons and always listing the lowest price first.
PriceRunner's goal is to provide consumers with the ability to make an
informed and confident buying decision. PriceRunner.com is a
ValueClick, Inc. company.
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the risk that
market demand for on-line advertising in general, and performance
based on-line advertising in particular, will not grow as rapidly as
predicted, and the risk that legislation and governmental regulation
could negatively impact the Company's performance. Actual results may
differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results
should not be considered an indication of future performance.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are
detailed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by
ValueClick, including, but not limited to: its annual report on Form
10-K filed on March 1, 2007; recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q;
and other current reports on Form 8-K. ValueClick undertakes no
obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or
to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
CONTACT: ValueClick, Inc.
John Ardis, 630-922-6423 (Media)
Gary Fuges, CFA, 818-575-4677 (Investor Relations)
or
For more data findings from the survey:
Michael Krems, 805-496-8166
krems@kremspr.com
SOURCE: PriceRunner.com