BuyingIQ is a new Indian startup that helps you compare prices and deals

With the growth of e-commerce, price comparison sites seem to be on the rise also. Actually, the market for product search and price comparison is getting very competitive and crowded. In India alone, there are lots of strong rivals such as MySmartPrice, Amazon’s new Junglee, and Compare India. The newest Indian startup in this area is BuyingIQ. It promises to be an unbiased shopping advisor to Indian e-shoppers.

With a user interface quite similar to Google Shopping, BuyingIQ focuses on consumer electronics. It was born from the idea that people often regret the purchases they have made due to bad decision making.

By the numbers

According to the startup, BuyingIQ attracts over 750,000 shoppers every month, and is now growing by 40 percent month on month. The startup claims that between 1.5 percent to seven percent of visitors click through to other sites and make purchases (ie: conversions). But a major chunk of indirect conversions (purchases happening 24 hours after clicking through to a product page) go unmeasured.

BuyingIQ doesn’t sell any products itself but instead directs consumers to the various e-commerce sites where the purchases take place. The startup makes money from these referrals. Currently BuyingIQ drives over $1 million of sales for its listed sellers every month.

BuyingIQ also makes money from affiliate networks, display ads, data analytics (e-commerce price intelligence service), consumer data, and physical retail listings. At present, most revenue comes from affiliate networks and display ads.

Future plans

As of now the startup is privately funded. However, it’s looking to raise a round of funding. According to Piyush Taneja, BuyingIQ’s founder and director, the company is in advanced talks with a few investors.

Although we are cash-flow neutral at this moment, we are looking to raise this money to implement a major product revamp and launch some features focused on product recommendation and product discovery. Also, the funding would be used to extend our reach across various mobile platforms. At present, 25 percent of our existing customer base comes from mobile browsers. We plan to release our Android and iOS app by early next year.

(Editing by Steven Millward)