Investigating the functionality and performance of online shopping bots for electronic commerce: a follow-up study

: Shopping bots are automated software applications that allow consumers to easily search for and compare product prices from online retailers. In a previous project, researchers investigated the functionality and performance of e-commerce shopping bots. The purpose of this project is to test the temporal stability of their findings two years later. Both studies concur that no `best' shopping bot exists, and all bots often present inaccurate product price and availability information. A positive relationship between the amount of incorrect product information and the number of online vendors was confirmed. Supplemental information provided to users still remains deficient. Differences in product prices were observed.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: IJEB
• Authors: Alexander Serenko, James Hayes
• Keywords: E-commerce Shopping Bots, IJEB 2010, Product Prices, Shopping Bot