Supplement Mega Site? Saving you $$$?

chosen5

Banned
Awards
0
Imagine a site where you could search the inventories of all major online supplement vendors in search of the best bargains on the products you want! Now imagine if this task was automated and all you had to do was give it your shopping list and it, not you, would do all the leg work. Soon, this possibility will become reality.

My question to you is would such a service, free of charge of course, be of any practical use to you - the supplement consumer?

The general concept revolves around giving the consumer the power to index all major supplement company's online inventories, looking for the products you want at the best possible prices. In the process finding the vendor/s that sell all the products you'd like to purchase and if need be, splitting up your order to accommodate your specific purchase. At the same time taking into consideration shipping charges, sale items, or special incentives such as free shipping with a $100 purchase and much more! All of this is done in an attempt to give you, the consumer, the most bang for your buck! On top of that, once you've decided upon your merchandise you'll be automatically taken to the vendor’s site; where your cart will be pre-filled out for you and if you so choose, your personal, shipping, and payment information will be as well.

If you'd be interested in such a service please help inspire such efforts by voicing your opinions, comments and suggestions in this thread! I thank you adamantly for your time and patience.
 

YellowJacket

Banned
Awards
0
Its a good idea. And I'll say yes & no.

Yes- because new guys to the game always are looking to save money (arent we all). This would allow them to type in a product and boom, instant feedback on where to get it the cheapest.

No- Because its a lot of time involved and if you notice, most of the same cheap sites have the cheapest everything. Look at DPS that deals a VERY large volume, most every product you find is cheaper at DPS than any place else, not to say all are. Another thing you must look at is shipping. Will you include shipping as a factor in the results of a search? And another note- if say I find Optimum 100% whey cheap at DPS and I need some creatine, and its cheaper at 1fast400.com as opposed to DPS, by like $1, Im still going to get it at DPS to save on shipping and get my order all at once.

Great thought though, Im syre there are many more variables than I am considering.
 

Biggs

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
yeah, it's a good thought but not necessary IMO for the reason YJ listed... basically I order everything off of one site, because they have everything I need, free shipping once I get it all, fast mail service via UPS... just good **** all around, always very consistent, blah blah... so really, once you find a good one (and there are really only a few sites out there in terms of good, fast, cheapest) then there's really no need for comparisons.
 

chosen5

Banned
Awards
0
No- Because its a lot of time involved and if you notice, most of the same cheap sites have the cheapest everything.
You clarify this better later in your post, but I'll expand here.

The point of the site is to automate the process of finding the cheapest source for your entire "shopping list" of products. Whether it be one product or a dozen it will find 1) the cheapest source offering ALL products in your list 2) the cheapest source/s offering partial inventory of your list (this would play in when you could buy 4 products here and 8 products here and would also take into account shipping expenses and cut off values for "free shipping". For example if you'd have to buy $100 worth of products here for free shipping and $250 here, it would automatically account for these variations and split the order accordingly and allow you multiple options in which to order from.)

In conclusion, the site would act as a supplement store itself giving you the capability to find products by brand, vendor, category, product, or by searching. You'd acquire the products you'd like to purchase in a "temporary cart" and when you're done shopping you'd be presented with the various means by which to purchase your shopping list in a number of formats(cheapest overall, cheapest one source, yadda yadda) From here you'd choose your purchasing option, prices would be verified and if still valid you'd go on to the vendor's specific site with your cart pre-filled out at their site with your product list you've specified at ours.

The whole process will not change at all for the consumer except in that they'll be guarenteed to find the lowest absolute price for the products they'd like to purchase, but would still be able to "pick and choose" based upon vendor inventory size, shipping policies, shipping time etc.

Look at DPS that deals a VERY large volume, most every product you find is cheaper at DPS than any place else, not to say all are.
You're correct in that there are few sites that offer quality and low prices in one place. A few, off the top of my head are: muscleshoppe, dpsnutrition, massnutrition, and easypricematch among others. But, even among these elite few there are obvious variations, free shipping cut-offs range greatly, individual products prices vary slightly to significantly, product availability and inventory among other factors such as shipping time or locale and shipping agent(airborne, ups, fedex etc).

These small and sometimes significant variations can really add up when you directly compare the various sites. If you just want to order one product and you need it tomorrow one site will beat out all the others. But, this same site most likely wouldn’t suffice for someone ordering a dozen products and spending hundreds of dollars where free shipping or volume discounts might come into play as well as the possibility to divide the order up among various vendors while still reaching "free shipping cutoffs" at all vendors. Such individual dependent situations as this is where the system will thrive, finding the cheapest prices according to your needs and your itinerary!

Another thing you must look at is shipping. Will you include shipping as a factor in the results of a search?
Yes, shipping will be seamlessly integrated into all results along with "free shipping" cutoffs(over $100 free shipping) and as such the site will automatically notify you of such scenarios where you could "spend $5 more dollars and you'd get free shipping here and then it'd be the cheapest site etc.") Also, shipping times could be integrated into the site.

Through signing up as a member (free of course) you'd have the option of giving us your geographical information. From this we'd cross reference the shipping method/s of the vendor and give you a durn good estimate of shipping time/rates.

Also, for international consumers, shipping charges and policies would be integrated for them, seeing as though most sites don't carry over the flat fee to them. The shipping charges could be exacted through a similiar process. Also, those sites, such as 1fast400 or bb.com which are "international friendly" (nudge nudge wink wink) would also be recommended/noted for certain products.

And another note- if say I find Optimum 100% whey cheap at DPS and I need some creatine, and its cheaper at 1fast400.com as opposed to DPS, by like $1, Im still going to get it at DPS to save on shipping and get my order all at once.
I addressed this issue in the first paragraph. But, to answer your question again, you'd be presented with both options, splitting your order or not.

On a more interesting note, say you wanted to purchase the 100% whey and some Creatine. Well say neither of these products, together or alone qualified for free shipping at any site. Well in this scenario one site beats out the other on the creatine by $1. You wouldn't even be presented with the option of splitting the order because 1) splitting the order would incur two sets of shipping charges 2) the added shipping cost, of ordering from a second vendor, would offset the $1 reduction in price. NEAT HUH? :)
 

John Benz

Banned
Awards
1
  • Established
Bodybuilding.com will match the lowest price you can show them on any product they carry. Many shop only there for this reason.
 

chosen5

Banned
Awards
0
Bodybuilding.com will match the lowest price you can show them on any product they carry. Many shop only there for this reason.
Very true, although i believe bb.com will only price match one product out of all your products and not your entire purchase. Unlike, muscleshoppe which will price match on your entire purchase. Even more intriguing is the fact that easypricematch will beat any price by 5%. All of these little exploits are and will be exploited by the site in an effort to give you the barebones price available to you at any given time - regarding your individual purchase and its contents.
 

The Conqueror

New member
Awards
0
Bodybuilding.com will match the lowest price you can show them on any product they carry. Many shop only there for this reason.
I missed this part somewhere. I've been a pretty loyal customer over there for a couple of years, however my last couple of orders have swung to DPS based on price+shipping.
 

Sheesh

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
I was actually thinking of making a site like that myself. A bodybuilding version of pricewatch.com
 

Similar threads


Top