# PriceRunner

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The website **PriceRunner** is a [price comparison service](/source/Price_comparison_service) launched in Sweden in 1999. It allows users to compare prices on a range of products.[1] The company is headquartered in [Stockholm](/source/Stockholm), Sweden, and also operates within Denmark, and the UK.[2] In March 2022, it was announced that PriceRunner had been acquired by the [Swedish](/source/Sweden) [fintech](/source/Financial_technology) company, [Klarna](/source/Klarna).[3]

## History

PriceRunner was launched in 1999 as a [price comparison service](/source/Price_comparison_service) based in Sweden and originally financed by a venture capitalist group called Cell Ventures,[4] who were later acquired by NewMedia Spark[citation needed]. It launched the service in the UK and Denmark in 2000. Initially, they had planned to become a pan-European service,[5] but some of these services were closed down in 2002 after poor financial performance.

In August 2004, it was acquired by [ValueClick](/source/ValueClick), an online media company, for £16 million ($29 million)[6] after NewMedia Spark sold its share in the company.[7]

Further expansion saw PriceRunner reopen the French office in August 2004, go into Germany in October of the same year,[8] and the United States in October 2005.[9] It also launched awards for retailers of the year based on its customer reviews.[10]

In 2006, it announced that it would launch a partnership service with [118 118](/source/118_118_(UK)), a UK phone based service, to provide prices to people by SMS.[11] 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 [Shopping sites](http://shopping.msn.co.uk/) in France and the UK would be powered by PriceRunner and Shopping.com.[12] They had previously been powered by [Kelkoo](/source/Kelkoo).[citation needed]

In 2007-8 PriceRunner also set up partnerships with Ask, the [Energy Saving Trust](/source/Energy_Saving_Trust),[13] [MSN](/source/MSN) and [Which?](/source/Which%3F) providing them with shopping engines for their websites. It also partnered with [Nectar](/source/Nectar) to offer Nectar Points.[14] In 2011, it introduced new branding produced by agency Firedog.[15]

In November 2013, ValueClick sold its global media properties (including [Investopedia](/source/Investopedia), Coupon Mountain and PriceRunner) to [IAC](/source/IAC/InterActiveCorp) for a reported $80 million.[16]

In March 2016, PriceRunner was sold to Swedish firm NS Intressenter.[17] [Barry Diller](/source/Barry_Diller) of IAC had initially been looking for "roughly $100 million",[18] although the actual sale figure was not disclosed publicly.[19]

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.[20]

In March 2022 the Swedish financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen approved the deal with Klarna. PriceRunner officially became part of [Klarna](/source/Klarna) as of April 1, 2022.

## Technology

PriceRunner uses a combination of [screen scraping](/source/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](/source/Fuzzy_logic) automatching system and manually by admin staff.[citation needed]

## Business model

PriceRunner is similar to other price comparison services in that it is financed by advertisers, who pay on a [pay per click](/source/Pay_per_click) model. It also uses [web banners](/source/Web_banners) provided by sister company, advertising network [ValueClick Media.](/source/ValueClick_Media.)[citation needed]

## References

1. ["Pricerunner seeks advertising agency"](http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1082341/). *Campaign*. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. PriceRunner. ["About Us"](https://www.pricerunner.com/info/about-pricerunner). *www.pricerunner.com*. PriceRunner.

1. Cameron, Isabel (2022-04-04). ["Klarna completes acquisition of PriceRunner -"](https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2022/04/04/klarna-completes-acquisition-of-pricerunner/). *Latest Retail Technology News From Across The Globe - Charged*. Retrieved 2022-04-04.

1. ["Compare Prices - Find Best UK Deals when shopping Online - PriceRunner UK"](http://www.pricerunner.com/about.html). Pricerunner.com. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

1. ["Digital Marketing Blog"](http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/10528/pricerunner-offers-europe--wide-price-comparison.html). Econsultancy. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

1. ["Digital Marketing Blog"](http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/157038/valueclick-acquires-pricerunner.html). Econsultancy. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

1. Chamberlain, Lydia (5 August 2004). ["NewMedia sells Pricerunner stake"](https://www.ft.com/content/0a2407ec-e67c-11d8-9bd8-00000e2511c8). *Financial Times*. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. [\[1\]](http://www.netimperative.com/2004/10/12/Pricerunner_Germany) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20051125193152/http://www.netimperative.com/2004/10/12/Pricerunner_Germany) 25 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine

1. ["PriceRunner Announces Launch in the US"](http://www.comparisonengines.com/2005/07/26/pricerunner-announces-launch-in-the-us/). ComparisonEngines. 2005-07-26. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

1. Whipp, Matt (23 March 2006). ["Pricerunner announces its retailers of the year"](http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/hardware/85307/pricerunner-announces-its-retailers-of-the-year). *PC Pro*. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. [\[2\]](https://www.netimperative.com/2006/07/03/PriceRunner) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20060706135127/https://www.netimperative.com/2006/07/03/PriceRunner) 6 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine

1. Chris Crum (2008-11-21). ["Yahoo Unloads Kelkoo"](http://www.webpronews.com/financial/news/wpn-64-20061002EuropePriceRunnerMakesDealWithMSN.html). WebProNews. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

1. Crawley-Boevey, Sarah (19 November 2007). ["PriceRunner strikes energy deal"](http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/767758/pricerunner-strikes-energy-deal). *MediaWeek*. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. Kemp, Ed (15 February 2008). ["Nectar partners with PriceRunner"](http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/784362/nectar-partners-pricerunner). *Marketing Magazine*. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. ["New branding for PriceRunner"](http://www.thedrum.com/news/2011/11/21/new-branding-pricerunner). *The Drum*. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

1. ["ValueClick, Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Owned & Operated Websites Segment - IAC"](http://iac.com/media-room/press-releases/valueclick-inc-signs-definitive-agreement-sell-owned-operated-websites-segment). *iac.com*. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

1. ["IAC/InterActiveCorp divests PriceRunner to NS Intressenter | Mannheimer Swartling"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160817011129/http://www.mannheimerswartling.se/en/news/news/iacinteractivecorp-avyttrar-pricerunner-till-ns-intressenter/). Archived from [the original](http://www.mannheimerswartling.se/en/news/news/iacinteractivecorp-avyttrar-pricerunner-till-ns-intressenter/) on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.

1. [Swedes Click With Comparison Site PriceRunner](http://news.sky.com/story/swedes-click-with-comparison-site-pricerunner-10207745)

1. ["Price comparison"](https://us.tiendas.com) Sunday, 28 October 2018

1. PriceRunner. ["History"](https://www.pricerunner.com/info/history). *www.pricerunner.com*. PriceRunner.

## Further reading

- ["NewMedia sells Pricerunner stake"](https://www.ft.com/content/0a2407ec-e67c-11d8-9bd8-00000e2511c8). *Financial Times*. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
- ["PriceRunner strikes energy deal"](http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/767758/pricerunner-strikes-energy-deal). *mediaweek.co.uk*. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
- ["Nectar partners with PriceRunner"](http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/784362/nectar-partners-pricerunner). *marketingmagazine.co.uk*. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
- Staff Writer. ["New branding for PriceRunner"](http://www.thedrum.com/news/2011/11/21/new-branding-pricerunner). *The Drum*. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
- ["Pricerunner announces its retailers of the year"](http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/hardware/85307/pricerunner-announces-its-retailers-of-the-year). *PC Pro*. Retrieved 26 April 2015.

## External links

- [PriceRunner Sweden](http://www.pricerunner.se/) (in Swedish)
- [PriceRunner UK](http://www.pricerunner.com/) (in English)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [PriceRunner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PriceRunner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PriceRunner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.