Froogle

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Froogle

Froogle search screenshot
Developer:	Google
OS:	Any (web based application)
Use:	Price comparison
Website:	www.froogle.com

Froogle is a price comparison service launched by Google Inc. It is currently in beta test stage. It was invented by Craig Nevill-Manning. Its interface provides an HTML form field into which a user can type product queries to return lists of vendors selling a particular product, as well as pricing information. The name Froogle is a pun on the word frugal, which means thrifty, and the name of the company, Google. Froogle is pronounced the same as frugal.

Froogle is different from most other price comparison services in that it neither charges any fees for listings, nor accepts payment for products to show up first. Also, it makes no commission on sales. Any company can submit product information (via a “data feed”) and be included in the Froogle engine. Notably, advertising space is available for purchase to be displayed in Froogle in the form of an AdWords ad, similar to those in other parts of the Google network. This is, as elsewhere, noticeably separate from the main body of results.

Searches can be sorted by relevance (“best match”) or by price (either ascending or descending). You can also search for items in specific online stores (assuming they have provided Froogle a data feed). Froogle is only available for selected countries at this point.

Google formally announced Froogle in December 2002, after the site had been active in beta for some years. It is now also offered in Wireless Markup Language (WML) form and can be accessed from cellphones or other wireless devices that have support for WML.

Google's Help Center says, "Froogle's search results will remain separate from Google Base. However, the Froogle Merchant Center is being replaced by the Google Base dashboard. Items submitted to Google Base which are appropriate for Froogle will be displayed both in Froogle and in Google Base search results."