People's hunger for viewable Internet price comparisons before deciding to purchase a kitchen should not even be the issue. In my opinion all this does is make the potential customers aware that it is all down to price; for example, they view the site and see that Such & Such is cheaper on a particular basket of goods than So & So. The potential customer will then go off to Such & Such down the road only to be given poor advice and the hard sell, this will leave the customer with a bad taste who then might assume that we are all the same, that same customer could have gone to another of Such & Suches branches a few miles further and might have seen different advisor who could have given them more sustainable advice with regards to their kitchen design and purchase.
You cannot assume that the current three companies that are on the comparison site all offer the same design service as each other, I know this for an absolute fact. Each of the three companies will have persons within their stores offering varying levels of advice & service and even within each particular store they would have more than one advisor working on the kitchen department and each advisor would offer variable levels of knowledge. So the only certain thing that this website will do is to drive potential customers into the lowest price store and even worse possibly into a Lions Lair.
On a bit more positive note if somebody who was looking at the website was a bit more savvy they may realise that the companies being compared are not the only ones out there and it may spur them to look around.
I do feel it is very important that the Kitchen Compare Website in question has the foresight to put a footnote at the bottom of their comparisons that says "Please note the above comparisons are based on a basket layout and that other multiple kitchen companies or independents may offer similar products for the same or similar prices, please also note that purchasing a kitchen can enhance your lifestyle and home and therefore it is important that you receive the correct advice before making a purchase"
It would be virtually impossible for independents to have their products put on a comparison website because the majority don't just sell boxes on walls, they secure products from various suppliers and put them together to suit a clients needs and each client is different along with the massive difference in the quality of the product.
Competition is a good thing for all concerned as it keeps everybody on their toes but in equal measure competition has to be to be able to offer customers an un-blindfolded view of what it is they are buying.
