LONDON, UK - October 8, 2007 - Oodle (http://www.oodle.co.uk/), a new way to shop online classifieds, today announced the UK launch of the Oodle Index, a comprehensive real-time price guide for classifieds that helps consumers better understand pricing trends and find hidden bargains for used cars and property.
Typically, classified listings are spread across hundreds of sites with widespread differences in asking price - even across the same product. For example, according to Oodle Index, a 2005 BMW 3-series in good condition with 30,000 miles on the clock in London will cost you £19,257. The same car in Birmingham will cost £16,500, and in Edinburgh, it will set you back a whopping £23,513 - 42 percent higher with a price difference of £7,013.
Those looking to buy or rent property can use the Oodle Index to find averages prices along with the amount of properties for sale or rent in any given area. Searches can be further refined based on neighbourhood and by the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Users can evaluate whether their new home purchase is possible if they move just a few miles further outside their selected area or even the other side of the country.For example, the average price for a 3-bed house in Liverpool is just £112,500 compared to a 3-bed house in Manchester at £153,003. Yet, if you were also considering a 4-bed house in either city, the prices are only £2,000 apart and there are 400 on the market in Liverpool compared with 215 in Manchester.
Oodle Index also makes it possible to find the most popular cars in each city. For example, Manchester appears to have more luxury cars than Liverpool:
| Popularity | Manchester | Liverpool |
| #1 | BMW 3-Series | Vauxhall Astra |
| #2 | Ford Focus | Vauxhall Corsa |
| #3 | Ford Transit | Ford Focus |
| #4 | Mercedes C-Class | BMW 3-Series |
| #5 | Vauxhall Astra | Vauxhall Vectra |
The Oodle Index searches across three million classifieds in the UK, providing price comparisons in real-time, as opposed to other sources that use annualised averages. The data also shows whether individual listings are above or below the average market price and by what percentage. The strength behind the Oodle Index is the proprietary technology which analyzes and compiles the data to give consumers what is possibly the most accurate pricing data there is.
"The British consumer is already savvy to the benefits of comparing pricing over the Internet, but when browsing online classifieds they typically have to spend a lot of time up-front to understand reasonable pricing for their purchase or sale," said Duncan Dunlop, Oodle UK General Manager. "With the Oodle Index, anyone can easily compare prices at the touch of a button. We aim to make online classified shopping more transparent to the consumer so that they can get the best deal possible."
"Research estimates that Internet sales will reach £40billion this year and it is forecasted to quadruple by 2020 when it will account for almost 40% of all UK retail sales," continued Dunlop. "With Oodle Index we are giving online shoppers the same access to information as the motoring trade or property business."
Oodle (www.oodle.co.uk) provides consumers with a great shopping experience for classifieds covering every major classifieds category: cars, properties to buy or rent, jobs, items for sale, pets, tickets and personals. Launched in the UK in May 2006, Oodle provides the largest and freshest index of classifieds with more than 3 million listings from over 1,000 leading classifieds sites.
Oodle also powers the Oodle Network - a number of newspaper, broadcast, yellow page and Internet sites that incorporate Oodle's market leading search capabilities. To learn more about Oodle or Oodle's Partner Network, please contact partner@oodle.com
For more information, please contact:
Rachel Postlethwaite