Huge digicam price variations reported

6th December - 2002
By Ian Burley

Pricerunner.com., an online service that specialises in comparing retail prices, has discovered the, perhaps, unsurprising fact that there are big savings to be made if you shop around for a digital camera. What might be more surprising is that scale of the differences they found. In some cases the cash price difference was as much as £200 and 100% in percentage difference.

The Pricerunner.com statement said: “Pricerunner.com compared the prices of 20 popular digital cameras from over 50 different retailers. The research showed large variations in the price. In the case of the Kodak DX4900 the cheapest price found was £198.79, conversely the most expensive retailer was selling the same model for £399.99, a £201.20 variance in price. On average the price variance on digital cameras between retailers was found to be £70.50, corresponding to a 28% difference.”

The Kodak DX4900 is a rather unusual case as it is now obsolete and most suppliers are pricing it to clear as the new LS443 replacement arrives. But it does show that the buyer should beware.

Below is a sample of digicam prices compared by Pricerunner.com around the country recently:

Product	Lowest price	Highest price	£ Price difference	% Price difference	No. of retailers
Sony CyberShot DSC-P71	£249.81	£349.99	£100.18	40.1%	36
Kodak EasyShare LS443	£335.55	£399.99	£64.44	19.2%	18
Fujifilm FinePix S602	£514.20	£599.99	£85.79	16.7%	30
Kodak DX 4900	£198.79	£399.99	£201.20	101.2%	20
Fujifilm FinePix F401	£282.32	£349.99	£67.67	24.0%	28
Sony CyberShot DSC-P51	£178.68	£279.99	£101.31	56.7%	38
Minolta Dimage X	£250.87	£342.00	£91.13	36.3%	20
Sony CyberShot DSC-P7	£311.00	£389.97	£78.97	25.4%	27
Canon PowerShot S45	£432.99	£549.99	£117.00	27.0%	22
Fujifilm FinePix 2800 Zoom	£257.99	£329.99	£72.00	27.9%	29

Commenting on the findings, Magnus Wiberg, UK Country Manager and Co-founder of Pricerunner said: “Given the huge price differences amongst retailers, our survey shows that consumers looking to purchase a new camera can easily save a lot of money, just by taking a few minutes to compare prices before they shop. Once you have decided which digital camera you want, why should you pay more than you need to?

“The results from the survey also show that it’s not always the same retailer which is the cheapest or the most expensive, which makes it even more important for consumers to compare prices before they shop.”

www.pricerunner.com

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