It looks like the folks over at PriceGrabber have rolled out a fresh new look for the comparison shopping sites homepage. There were some initial reports from around the blogoshere that they have been testing it for about a month now, and it looks like they are pleased with it, as the new design appears to be here to stay (before it was only being displayed at certain times to certain visitors).

The first thing you’ll probably notice that’s different is that they are no longer using a 100% fluid width homepage design, which can still be seen if you navigate anywhere off the new homepage. Not only that, but the new fixed width layout is center aligned, which is a common practice among many of the CSE’s, although 100% widths make it easier to squeeze in all the different data that is needed to run a comparison shopping engine in 2008 (comparisons, reviews, useful features, updates, etc). In addition to the new layout and fixed design, there are other much need improvements that have been made.

New PriceGrabber Homepage Screenshot:

Click the thumbnail to see the whole page, then check out the individual sections below

New Search Bar & Quick Links Section:

One of the things that stood out to me the most about the new design was the new and improved search bar with quick links section. On the old design, PriceGrabber had the quick links on a green background and the search bar was on a gray background below the links. Now you’ll see they reversed the order, and background colors in an attempt to improve how user interact with their product search.

Now the search bar appears on the green background and the quick links are within the whitespace below the search. The search bar also features a sampling of popular product searches such as iPods, Digital Cameras, GPS and Plasma TV.

Better Category Layout & Mouse-Hover Subcategories:

Another much needed improvement to the PriceGrabber design is their new category structure featuring mouse-hover subcategories (which I haven’t seen too much within the CSE space). The old categories were plain jane text links without any access to the subcategories other than clicking through to one of the category pages. The links were blue and appeared within a lightly shaded rounded corner gray background image (they can still be seen by clicking off the new homepage). It looks to me that they have added a few new categories or maybe promoted some of their popular subcategories to the main category tree (cats used to start with computers, now appliances are at the top).

The new categories are green, bigger and have a 100% better looking background image to make them stand out even more on the page. Also, near the bottom of the homepage category tree you can see featured or special interest categories which are purple in color, rather than green. not only have the categories been rearranged/expanded, colored differently and improved in appearance, they also feature new and improved mouse-hover subcategories. Hover over any of the new homepage categories and now shoppers can catch a glimpse of popular subcategories that reside within a main category. for instance, if you hover over Appliances, you’ll see subcategories for Small Appliances, Large Appliances,, Air Cleaners, Heating & Cooling, Vacuums and a link to more for that category. Pretty impressive feature, useful too. It also makes for good usability and provides easier access to deeper pages.

Featured, Most Popular & Highest Rated Products Section:

One of the best improvements to the PriceGrabber front page is the addition of their featured products display. It runs displays and describes product details for some of the featured items including GPS, Storage Devices, Cameras, Boots and TVs in a visible, easy to use, easy to read display box. The previous homepage design main space was filled with their categories much like link directories do, in my opinion, this is much better use of the prime real estate right at the top middle of the main page content area. The old look gave a lot more precedence to the categories and very little to the different useful shopping sections. To their credit, the graphics off to the right they used to have for these sections were nice, but this is much better.

Now the featured product area on the main page includes a variety of information and links to the featured product details and of course, links to buy those items or compare prices. The screenshot example above show the TomTom One GPS, priced as low as $173.98, with 4.5 out of 5 stars from 25 reviews, description, link to more GPS, and finally, the really useful links for comparing prices, reading product details or reviews and discussions. Overall, this works out great as they are able to display 5 of the different featured products, with all the pertinent information a consumer would need, only using up a small portion of the main page. Great use of technology, space and information by the PriceGrabber team.

Not only does PriceGrabber do a quality job of displaying their featured products, they also do it with their most popular and highest rated products. As we mentioned above, the old homepage look focused on categories in the main content space. Another wise move on PriceGrabbers part was adding sections here instead dedicated to showcasing popular and rated items. Using that space in this manner is much better and was indeed another much needed improvement.

The new most popular and highest rated product section is a great example of the direction PriceGrabber is headed. The most popular products are chosen and displayed based off of the top three viewed items on the site. The highest rated products are chosen and display based of user votes. The three with the most votes are displayed on the new homepage. Most Popular items show shoppers a thumbnail, product name and prices where as the highest rated items show shoppers a thumbnail, product name and the number of stars/reviews received. Below each section are links to view more popular or rated products on PriceGrabber.

PriceGrabber Sponsored Blogs & ShopGreen Section:

PriceGrabber has done a very smart thing by introducing more of their blogs and the content within them right in plain view on the new homepage. Blogs are a great source of traffic, links and community loyalty, I am impressed when I see CSE’s use blogs, but even more impressed when they use them in the right manner. PriceGrabber is now able to direct more traffic to their blogs and vice versa, making it easier for the community or readers to interact with the shopping engine. The old design featured small banners off to the right of the category links, they were in plain view, but they didn’t make them sound as exciting or look as coo as where and how they do it now.

The new blog and ShopGreen section is directly under the featured, popular and rated product within the main page content area. The first banner and text link goes to blogBytes (personal computing news), the second to Gadget Blog (gadget news) and lastly a banner and link for their SHOPgreen section and blog (learn about green shopping). Notice how all the blogs and ShopGreen section reside on the PriceGrabber.com domain and not separate domains link shopgreenblog or whatever. Many sites do not follow this rule and are missing out on links, traffic and making their domain authoritative by not putting blogs and useful site section on the company domain.

Plenty Of Room For Anything Else:

The old PriceGrabber site didn’t leave much room within the main page content for promotions, new sections or anything else the team might have to showcase on the main page. Seasonal graphics, specials, linkbait ideas, contests, more items and more could all be possible fits for the remaining space below the featured, popular, rated, blogs sections.

The extra space on the main page currently features a PriceGrabber promotion for post holiday products. The post holiday guide is meant to help consumers shop for gift ideas, post holiday stress relief and more. This is a great idea that I can’t remember seeing on any other CSE before. It is a useful section that adds some great content to their site. I know these kind of guides get tons of visitors, lots of links and pretty decent buzz around the Web, depending on the type of guide or products mentioned in it. It’’s a good start for them and the extra space on their main page. Can’t wait to see what they decide to rotate in ant out of that area.

Storefronts, Alerts & Product Reviews:

The old PriceGrabber main page hardly gave any attention to some of their main features including PriceGrabber Storefronts, Lists and Alerts or Product Reviews. They used to just appear as text links, there was never really anything that made them stand out on the page before.

That’s all changed with the new look. As Pricegrabber is attempting to improve overall, of course they are going to have to continue promoting the things that have made them what they are today. Some of those things include their storefronts, alert feature and product reviews. Near the bottom of the new homepage are links to those sections with a brief description of each one. I like how they use pleasant graphics along with brief descriptions and links to these important sections. They make good use of space and bring the proper attention to these features and site areas. It’s interesting to see them promoting their storefronts so much, as well as the alert feature. I don’t remember seeing anything on them being updated. Might be something to keep an eye on, the storefronts and some of the other sections may shortly be getting a fresh look too.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

All in all I think PriceGrabber has done an excellent job testing and implementing their new homepage design. I hope they roll out something simiar for the rest of the pages soon as I could really get used to this look and new and improved functionality, concentrating on core content and useful guides rather than JUST the price comparison side of things.

I like the new layout and use of space within the page. I think they chose to link to and display some of their really useful site features and sections. I am impressed at how they have blended in their social, review and blog content without it appearing too messy or crammed into the design. It’s also a very wise move for them to bring more attention to those features, it’s certainly going to be a trend in 2008, if not already.

Nice work PriceGrabber team. hopefully you liked my feedback and I can’t wait to see you implement a newer design for the rest of the site, it is MUCH NEEDED. For anyone else who wishes to provide direct feedback to PriceGrabber, they are asking for it. Simply email them at feedback [at] pricegrabber.com.