American online shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy and shopping around, using search engines and comparative sites to find the best deal.

American online shoppers are increasingly turning to search engines and comparative web sites for their retail needs according to the results of a recent survey by a US Research agency. BizRate, conducted a survey of 923 online buyers for Shopzilla, a US shopping search engine.

The results of the survey conclude that American consumers are flexing their wallets by aggressively searching online when looking for merchandise and deals, instead of shopping at tried and tested retail channels.

Most consumers (59%) are starting their shopping at aggregator sites which take the form of search engines, comparison shopping sites, shopping portals and auction sites in stead of going directly to a merchant's site and taking the first price offered.

This represents a 13-percentage point consumer shift towards aggregator sites in less than three years. Previously only 46% started shopping at aggregator sites and the majority (54%) of shoppers went straight to a merchant's site, according to the results released today.

This shift is probably because 87% of online shoppers are now comparing offerings of online retailers against catalogue merchants and retail stores to find the best deals and items that are in-stock, the company said in a statement released today. The results also reported that 71% of online shoppers said they were able to find better sales and discount offers online than offline via a retail or catalogue merchant.

BizRate said the results show that it is the American way to shop around, with 70% of respondents reporting they compare prices every time or most of the time they shop online. The survey results showed that US Internet shoppers will visit an average of four online retailers prior to choosing which site to buy from - while actively comparing prices (94%) - and then they visit the site of their choice an average of 2.61 more times before proceeding to checkout.

"Consumers want to save time and money, and comparison shopping sites achieve that objective well," said Chuck Davis, president and CEO, Shopzilla.

"We're still in the early innings and many online shoppers still need to be exposed to its benefits," he added.

Books and clothing tend to be the two most popular categories online shoppers deal-hunt the most. Other common ways to search for deals include signing-up for sale newsletters (36%) and just waiting for sales (22%). For 74% of consumers, the biggest deal leading to a purchase is receiving a free shipping deal, or a special offer.

Online shoppers are very rational when it comes to saving money. Forty-three percent will not pay extra from a retailer they like, if they can get it elsewhere for less. However, consumers exhibited a moderately high level of loyalty to their favourite brands with 34% of online shoppers reporting that they buy the same brand "most of the time" when shopping online, 62% reported buying the same brand "some of the time", and 1% reported buying their favourite brands "always."

The Online Shopper Deal Shopping and Value Panel Study, conducted by BizRate Research, a division of Shopzilla Inc., is based on a survey with a sample of 923 online shoppers from February 22-28, 2005. Survey respondents were selected from among a panel of 790,000 online American shoppers. Respondents were 44% male, 56% female adults.