PriceRunner

PriceRunner was launched in 1999 as a price comparison service based in Sweden and originally financed by a venture capitalist group called Cell Ventures,{{cite web|url=http://www.pricerunner.com/about.html |title=Compare Prices - Find Best UK Deals when shopping Online - PriceRunner UK |publisher=Pricerunner.com |access-date=2015-04-30}} who were later acquired by NewMedia Spark{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}. It launched the service in the UK and Denmark in 2000. Initially, they had planned to become a pan-European service,{{cite web|url=http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/10528/pricerunner-offers-europe--wide-price-comparison.html |title=Digital Marketing Blog |publisher=Econsultancy |access-date=2015-04-30}} but some of these services were closed down in 2002 after poor financial performance.

In August 2004, it was acquired by ValueClick, an online media company, for £16 million ($29 million){{cite web|url=http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/157038/valueclick-acquires-pricerunner.html |title=Digital Marketing Blog |publisher=Econsultancy |access-date=2015-04-30}} after NewMedia Spark sold its share in the company.{{cite news|last1=Chamberlain|first1=Lydia|title=NewMedia sells Pricerunner stake|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a2407ec-e67c-11d8-9bd8-00000e2511c8.html#axzz3XIDaDkZh|access-date=14 April 2015|work=Financial Times|date=5 August 2004}}

Further expansion saw PriceRunner reopen the French office in August 2004, go into Germany in October of the same year,[http://www.netimperative.com/2004/10/12/Pricerunner_Germany] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125193152/http://www.netimperative.com/2004/10/12/Pricerunner_Germany|date=25 November 2005}} and the United States in October 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.comparisonengines.com/2005/07/26/pricerunner-announces-launch-in-the-us/ |title=PriceRunner Announces Launch in the US |publisher=ComparisonEngines |date=2005-07-26 |access-date=2015-04-30}} It also launched awards for retailers of the year based on its customer reviews.{{cite web|last1=Whipp|first1=Matt|title=Pricerunner announces its retailers of the year|url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/hardware/85307/pricerunner-announces-its-retailers-of-the-year|website=PC Pro|access-date=14 April 2015|date=23 March 2006}}

In 2006, it announced that it would launch a partnership service with 118 118, a UK phone based service, to provide prices to people by SMS.[https://www.netimperative.com/2006/07/03/PriceRunner] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060706135127/https://www.netimperative.com/2006/07/03/PriceRunner|date=6 July 2006}} This followed an earlier failure to enter the mobile market in 2002 by providing price tracking through the site. In October, MSN announced that their [http://shopping.msn.co.uk/ Shopping sites] in France and the UK would be powered by PriceRunner and Shopping.com.{{cite web|author=Chris Crum |url=http://www.webpronews.com/financial/news/wpn-64-20061002EuropePriceRunnerMakesDealWithMSN.html |title=Yahoo Unloads Kelkoo |publisher=WebProNews |date=2008-11-21 |access-date=2015-04-30}} They had previously been powered by Kelkoo.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

In 2007-8 PriceRunner also set up partnerships with Ask, the Energy Saving Trust,{{cite web|last1=Crawley-Boevey|first1=Sarah|title=PriceRunner strikes energy deal|url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/767758/pricerunner-strikes-energy-deal|website=MediaWeek|access-date=14 April 2015|date=19 November 2007}} MSN and Which? providing them with shopping engines for their websites. It also partnered with Nectar to offer Nectar Points.{{cite web|last1=Kemp|first1=Ed|title=Nectar partners with PriceRunner|url=http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/784362/nectar-partners-pricerunner|website=Marketing Magazine|access-date=14 April 2015|date=15 February 2008}} In 2011, it introduced new branding produced by agency Firedog.{{cite web|title=New branding for PriceRunner|url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2011/11/21/new-branding-pricerunner|website=The Drum|access-date=14 April 2015|date=21 November 2011}}

In November 2013, ValueClick sold its global media properties (including Investopedia, Coupon Mountain and PriceRunner) to IAC for a reported $80 million.{{cite web|url=http://iac.com/media-room/press-releases/valueclick-inc-signs-definitive-agreement-sell-owned-operated-websites-segment|title=ValueClick, Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Owned & Operated Websites Segment - IAC|work=iac.com|access-date=19 April 2015}}

In March 2016, PriceRunner was sold to Swedish firm NS Intressenter.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mannheimerswartling.se/en/news/news/iacinteractivecorp-avyttrar-pricerunner-till-ns-intressenter/ |title=IAC/InterActiveCorp divests PriceRunner to NS Intressenter | Mannheimer Swartling |access-date=12 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817011129/http://www.mannheimerswartling.se/en/news/news/iacinteractivecorp-avyttrar-pricerunner-till-ns-intressenter/ |archive-date=17 August 2016 |url-status=dead }} Barry Diller of IAC had initially been looking for "roughly $100 million",[http://news.sky.com/story/swedes-click-with-comparison-site-pricerunner-10207745 Swedes Click With Comparison Site PriceRunner] although the actual sale figure was not disclosed publicly.{{cite web| url= https://us.tiendas.com|title= Price comparison }} Sunday, 28 October 2018

As of 2020, Nicklas Storåkers, CEO, and the investment firm eEquity have purchased Nordstjernans ownership stake in the company, with one of PriceRunner's founders, Magnus Wiberg returning as an executive board member.{{cite web |last1=PriceRunner |title=History |url=https://www.pricerunner.com/info/history |website=www.pricerunner.com |publisher=PriceRunner}}

In March 2022 the Swedish financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen approved the deal with Klarna. PriceRunner officially became part of Klarna as of April 1st, 2022.

PriceRunner uses a combination of screen scraping retailers' websites and files supplied by the retailers themselves. These prices are matched against a backend database. This is done both by using a fuzzy logic automatching system and manually by admin staff.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

PriceRunner is similar to other price comparison services in that it is financed by advertisers, who pay on a pay per click model. It also uses web banners provided by sister company, advertising network ValueClick Media.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0a2407ec-e67c-11d8-9bd8-00000e2511c8,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F0a2407ec-e67c-11d8-9bd8-00000e2511c8.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPriceRunner#axzz3XIDaDkZh|title=NewMedia sells Pricerunner stake|work=Financial Times|access-date=26 April 2015}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/767758/pricerunner-strikes-energy-deal|title=PriceRunner strikes energy deal|work=mediaweek.co.uk|access-date=26 April 2015}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/784362/nectar-partners-pricerunner|title=Nectar partners with PriceRunner|work=marketingmagazine.co.uk|access-date=26 April 2015}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2011/11/21/new-branding-pricerunner|title=New branding for PriceRunner|author=Staff Writer|work=The Drum|access-date=26 April 2015}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/hardware/85307/pricerunner-announces-its-retailers-of-the-year|title=Pricerunner announces its retailers of the year|work=PC Pro|access-date=26 April 2015}}

• [http://www.pricerunner.se/ PriceRunner Sweden] {{in lang|sv}}
• [http://www.pricerunner.com/ PriceRunner UK] {{in lang|en}}

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Category:Comparison shopping websites

Category:Review websites

Category:2022 mergers and acquisitions