gas bbq grill deals Pssst! You Can Get It Cheaper Over There

BOB tedesschimarch 27,2006 this is something that makes the bargain happy: follow the consumer to the competitive store and show them better deals when they are about to check outThis is believed to be tracking in the mall.The idea has been on the Internet for a few years, but it is not popular.Now, companies such as Barry Diller's company, IAC/InterActive Corp, are reviving the shopping software.The company recently launched the Pronto, a software application that users download in Pronto.com.Once the user clicks on one of the 50,000 merchants in its database, immediately monitor all the user's activities silently on the product page, and then display the transactions of other merchants on the same project, or similar, until it finds a better deal.It then sends a message prompting the user to click to leave.The man behind--And the people behind other newly developed products like SmartShopper, Dealio, active hopper, NexTag and whenu-They said that thanks to better technology and higher prices, they believe that this version of shopping software will have a better chance than the previous generation in the late 1990s s.Quick connection and wider acceptance of reminder apps like SideStep will inform consumers of better ticket deals.Does the app that reminds customers to buy sweaters, cameras and other items have a similar success?Analysts did not fully agree with the idea."In the past few years, I 've heard a few of these things come out every year, but none of them have gained traction," said Patti Freeman Evans, an online consulting firm, Jupiter Research."On the surface, they sound good to consumers, but we haven't seen a wide range of applications yet.However, there is no interactive resource behind the ads of other shopping apps.Pronto already appears in the link at the bottom of other interactive sites such as Ticketmaster.According to Pronto's chief executive Dan Marriott, com and CitySearch have taken more substantial marketing initiatives on ask.Other sister sites can also be followed."But it will not be the difference between our success or not," said Mr.Marriott said."The product itself must be good enough."The software of Pronto runs on Windows machines (but not Macs), which connects users to the 50,000 merchant databases of Pronto by scanning and cataloging the retailer's web pages.When a user clicks on a specific product page on the retailer's website, the software is activated and then it scrolls through a window in the lower right cornerOn the hand side of the computer screen, there is an alternative price for retailers and the same product.Someone bought Canon PowerShot SD 450 on CompUSA.Com, for example, can see a window saying that they can save up to 29% of their expenses at other retailers, such as Abe or newegg in Maine.com.After clicking on the window, a larger page covers most of the screens with details of other merchant products and links to those products.For items like teak benches or gas grills, there are a lot of different places for applesto-Apple is more difficult, and the software will return suggestions for similar products listed by those names.Users can also set up the system so that they are reminded when the price of a particular item is below a certain threshold.Please click on the box to verify that you are not a robot.The email address is invalid.Please re-enter.You must select the newsletter you want to subscribe.View all New York Times newsletters.When someone buys from the merchant suggested by Pronto, the merchant pays the Commission immediately, usually from 5 to 15% of the sales.This is a different approach to other companies like WhenU and SmartShopper, and the site pays every time someone clicks on their link.Unlike other apps, Pronto has not yet been bundled with other free software providers to increase the chances for consumers to download it.Especially when you make progress on this approach.When a user visits a competitor's website, WhenU's software allows merchants to display ads, which have recently started in these pop-ups.What can help these applications is that comparative shopping is more accepted online.With a faster connection, consumers are more free to click on multiple sites to view prices and products, or use comparisons-Shopping websites like eBay shopping.com or E.W.Shopzilla of Scripps.Do it for them.Consumers are now more likely to try to download software online than they did a few years ago, when these apps often caused computers to crash or fail to function properly.Still, privacy-Sensitive shoppers may be upset about installing such software on their computers because it is essentially observing someone's surfing habits and storing information about them.When your software stores this information on the user's computer, not on the company's server, ads are posted.Others, like Smartshopper.They follow users anonymously, which means they don't collect personal information.Pronto collect emails from usersMail address so that it can send a sales alert, among other things.Pronto also gives users the option to clear System Product history files in case they are buying items they do not want Pronto to keep in the record.Will the merchant feel comfortable when the customer is ready to buy?The executives of the shopping software company do not apologize.Ziv Eliraz, vice president of SmartShopper Strategic Alliance, said: "If you are a businessman and you are not competitive, you don't want an educated user, that's for sure," based in New York.Mr.However, Eliraz added that he had not heard any complaints from the merchant about his services."They would rather be involved than fight it," he said."We are constantly improving the quality of our text archives.Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archid_feedback @ nytimes.com.A version of this article was printed on page 9 of the national version of cinterest on March 27, 2006, with the title: E-Business Report;Pssst!It can be cheaper over there.