News Corporation acquires Australian online shopping site Getprice

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation's digital arm News Digital Media today acquired the 48 per cent it does not already own in Australian online price comparison and shopping site Getprice.com.au for an undisclosed sum,

Sydney-based Getprice, founded in 2005, is a price comparison and aggregation engine that has over three million Australian users.

GetPrice displays up-to-date product and pricing information from Australian retailers, as well as buying guides, product reviews and user opinion. The site has nearly 2 million products from 1,000 retailers including those of Apple, Dell, Supercheap Auto and Flight Centre and others.

Between January–June 2010, Getprice was ranked number one based on market share visits among all Australian websites in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds – Rewards and Directories industry.

News Digital had initially acquired a minority stake in Getprice in 2007 and raised its stake to 52.5 per cent in July 2009, along with board representation.

''Over the next four years the Australian online retailing market is predicted to grow by 50 per cent to $18 billion. With 57 per cent of online shoppers now visiting a comparison website before making a purchase decision, we see a very successful and highly profitable future for Getprice,'' said Richard Freudenstein, chief executive of News Digital.