Comparison website launched in Leeds
A NEW comparison website to rival the likes of moneysupermarket.com has been launched in Yorkshire.
thecomparisons.com will lead the country's second wave of price comparison websites, which focus on comparing the added value of products and services beyond just price.
The site will initially focus on a series of insurance-based products, but will quickly broaden its offering to other areas including e-retail, money, travel and supermarkets.
The offices are based at Thorpe Park in Leeds.
It will also feature an online community called Comparisonville, where registered members can tap into a range of extended services including prizes and offers as well as money saving ideas and tips.
Chris McDonald, joint director and co-founder of The Trading Floor – one of the UK's largest data pool companies – said that making comparisons was a part of every day life.
“We compare ourselves to other people on a daily basis whether it's what job we have, where we live or something as simple as how much we've paid for car insurance,” he said.
“It's only natural therefore to want to be able to compare products easily and quickly, which it why we've launched thecomparisons.com.”
Harry Cummine, who has previously worked with GE Capital and BT, is the site's other founder.
General manager is Luke Slowen, who previously headed up an online team at digital agency Leap Frog.
Comparison websites are now a booming sector thanks to impressive valuations.
Chester-based moneysupermarket.com – considered the market leader – notched up 3.2m users alone in April – up 41% the same month in 2006.
It successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in July for £843m – a slight drop however from pre-flotation valuation figures of £1bn.
And despite a share price fall it was still the largest ever internet initial public offering (IPO) on the LSE.
Valuations are being calculated on 13 or 14 times earnings with Confused.com being valued at 20 times its projected 2008 earnings.
However, some observers are warning that valuations are too punchy for a fledgling sector and not far behind dot.com earning multiples of years ago.
