User:Brendan.lidster/Canstar

The CANSTAR group operates in Australia & New Zealand undertaking comprehensive, financial research and Star Ratings under the CANSTAR brand and customer satisfaction ratings under the Canstar Blue brand.

CANSTAR was founded in 1992, with the Canstar Blue brand created in 2010. The two run parallel to each other, offering reviews from professionals and consumers alike.

Canstar is a ratings company based in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1992, Canstar provides ratings for Australian and New Zealand brands on a range of financial products and services under the Canstar Gold brand, and for consumer products and services under the Canstar Blue brand.

They have provided awards which are often leveraged as part of marketing material produced by Australian and New Zealand companies such as Commonwealth Bank, Pirelli , Daikin , Budget Rent A Car and Suzuki  as a few examples.

Their impartial ratings system means they are often quoted as an authority on finance and consumer brand matters by Australia'a major publications such as News.com.au ,, and Herald Sun.

The company currently has 18,000 reviewed products on its database and the main site receives approximately 2 million visits each year. Data on the site used by over 300 financial institutions to improve their products.

The primary competitor for Canstar Gold is Comparethemarket.com with Choice (Australian consumer organisation) the major competitor for Canstar Blue.

Canstar Blue
The Canstar Blue brand provides consumer satisfaction information resulting from statistically significant surveys on over 150 product areas. Approximately 90,000 survey results have contributed to a selection of brand-level product and service reviews thus far.

Star Ratings System
The star ratings system offers a benchmark to help consumers compare products based on the features and ratings.

Ratings go up to five stars, with the top rating reserved for those who guarantee a high-performance product. The rising star status is given to products which do not meet the criteria for being rated (new products for example), but show potential to score highly in the near future. A rating is devised based on historical interest rate performance, fees, price comparison, features and other details pertinent to each product category.