Use The Web To Shop Locally

December 19, 2005

By Herb Weisbaum

SEATTLE - "Oh no, not another shopping site!" That was my initial response when I was asked to meet with a PR person for a relatively new web site called cairo.com.

With froogle, dealtime.com, and shopping.com (just to name a few) "why would anyone want to launch another shopping portal?" I wondered.

The Internet, the most powerful global shopping tool ever developed, is becoming more localized.

While most of the big name shopping sites focus on online retailers, the new sites, such as cairo.com and shoplocal.com make it easy to find the sales at local brick and mortar chain stores, such as Macy's, Mervyn's, Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy.

Even Google's froogle now lets you put in your zip code to find stores near you.

On most of these sites you can look for a specific item or just see what's on sale at various stores. You might be surprised, as I was, to find that buying online isn't always cheaper.

Earlier this month, Matt Hurwitz, a spokesman for Cairo.com gave me a tour of the website and price shopped for Rod Stewart's "Great American Songbook," a 4-CD box set.

We found that two retailers in the Seattle area, Circuit City and Fred Meyer had it on sale at that time. But, how did those prices compare to what we'd get at an online store?

Just one click of a drop down menu and we could see cyber-store prices via a number of shopping portals. And guess what? The sales price at the physical stores was cheaper. It was $48 at Amazon.com and just $39.99 at Circuit City.

"So not only can I buy it now at a lower price," Hurwitz noted, "but I don't have to pay shipping and handling and I don't have to wait for it to come in the mail."

By the way, if you think the price might go lower, or your just willing to wait and see, cairo.com lets you create a sales alert. If the item hits your target price, you'll get be notified by e-mail.

The site also makes it easy to compare sale prices at some of the chain stores in your area. You can be very specific with your searches, Hurwitz says. With turkey, you can type in "whole Hormel turkey" or just "sliced turkey" and you'll get the results of everything on sale.

It's nothing different than what you'd find in the newspaper circulars, it's just a whole lot easier to see what different stores are charging for the same items.

For instance, the day we shopped, we found Stove Top Stuffing selling for $1.29 at K-Mart and just 99-cents at Longs. Ambrosia apples we were $1.99 a pound at QFC and just $1.48 a pound at Fred Meyer.

Now I don't know that I'd go online to save a few cents on Stove Top Stuffing, but if you're about to buy a turkey or ham or wine for a big holiday party it might be worth a few clicks to see which stores near you have these things on sale. Cairo.com makes it real easy for you to find out

In case you're wondering, cairo.com is not affiliated with any retailer. It hopes to make money by having ads on its site.

You do not need to give them any personal information to comparison shop; all they need is your zip code.

To get a price alert on grocery products or other items you will need to submit your e-mail address.