mentioning competitor's products on your website

K

KBR

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Hi,
I am developing a new website, and a key feature my customers would like is to be able to look up a competitors brand or model number, and then see what we have to offer them that is similar.

I work in the construction industry & our customers are always looking for an alternative to the product specified by an architect or consulting engineer.

Do you think this is legal? Putting our competitors model numbers and brand names on our website and stating this is our equivalent of them?

I have seen it done in the USA, but have never seen it done here or in UK.

I would appreciate your opinions on this
 
It would be very hard to pin down the equivalency details of construction products. Nearly every item is slightly different from each other, so there will always be a point of argument.

If you looked at insulation only. In 150mm quilt, you could have glass fibre, sheepwool, non-itch manmades, different, lengths, densities and U-values to pick a few details.

Even blocks- different strength characteristics can exist from one manufacturer to another in the same class of block or brick.

As more and more tenders are being 'qualified' with alternative products to those specified, it would be a great resource - the service you're offering, but it would be a minefield. I'd say most 'other manufacturers' would challenge your equivalency criteria.

But a great idea - web searches for brand products would bring your website up front promoting the alternatives!
 
Sconhome,
You're obviously in a similar game to me. I'm trying to sit in my customers seat and see what they want when they log on to a website. If he is a buyer, he wants to find the products that is specified, but then wants immediately to find alternatives/equivalents.
Already the customer receives plenty of written communication stating that x is equivalent to x, but I can't see it ever listed clearly on a website (In Europe). I see the phone companies here are all comparing their packages to Eircom or Vodafone quite explicitly.

Of course the last sentance in your reply is the selfich motive we have also - it would be a great aid for us when a customer puts in a UK or German company's product code and if google ranks our Irish company on page 1 due to mentioning that code also.
 
You could consider buying Google Adwords for the competitor's product names/codes. When anyone searches Google for those names/codes, your site name will come up as one of the advertised sites in Google.
 
Complainer said:
You could consider buying Google Adwords for the competitor's product names/codes. When anyone searches Google for those names/codes, your site name will come up as one of the advertised sites in Google.
Click to expand...

Very good idea but it's not what the OP is asking.

Yes, you can put their part numbers etc on your website but I would be careful about how it is worded. Don't say they are the same, say that they are similar.
 
Hi Purple,

I'm very interested to hear that. Anybody I speak to is afraid to do it but it is really useful for both my customers and for me. I want to write a paragraph about why you would used this particular part, and then state that 'This is a good alternative to XYZ part from ABC company'

I'll repeat something similar for about 100 different parts we offer.

It's certainly going to annoy my competitors but it is the primary goal of our customer base to always find 2-3 alternatives for a specified product. I'm pretty sure I'll be threatened with legal action - but often this is just a threat.

Could you refer me to some source that confirms this, or maybe an example that's live?
 
It's fine once the information is 100% correct and verifiable. Any type of opinion would be a very bad idea.


Good:

ABC Ltd sells 100 bags of cement for €50*

*Source ABC January 2010 catalogue


Bad:

ABC Ltd sells cement that doesn't work as well as ours.
 
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