More Shopping Comparison Sites = Good News for Small to Mid-Sized Online Retailers

Today I read that yet another shopping comparison site launched this week.  That makes over 100 I know of in the marketplace and justifies yesterday’s blog about the changing landscape of e-commerce, rather than its demise.

The site is called Glimpse and it is focused on fashion-savvy women in their 20’s and 30’s.

I am unsure if there is a need for another shopping comparison site in the marketplace to showcase such products, as we do have wonderful shopping comparison sites that already sell these type of products, but that is not the point.  As I hinted at yesterday, a permutation of online shopping is turning toward niche marketplaces and branding tha marketplace accordingly. 

This in turn leads to building a loyal customer base that comes to a particular shopping comparison site for one specific category of products – namely high fashion clothing and accessories (well at least those who launch niche shopping comparison sites hope that this happens).

The good news for small to mid-sized online merchants is that they now have shopping comparison sites which welcome their “unique” inventory to justify the shopping comparison site's niche marketing strategies.  As Frank Han, CEO of Glimpse states: “[we are]....not a Costco and never will be.”  Thus, for small to mid-sized online merchants selling high fashion women’s products, Glimpse will look to work with you to build out a merchant client base as they also work with behemoths as Banana Republic and Neiman Marcus.  And as more people come to Glimpse, the more opportunity a small to mid-sized online merchant has to make an impression as you now have a “much more focused” consumer looking for “sexy, unique items” -- so the theory goes.

No one knows yet if online consumers really care where they buy some of their “branded” name products, but if Glimpse can offer them a better “experience” and a wider variety of products while shopping for fashion items, why wouldn’t this business model work?

I actually love to go to stores and seek people out who are experts in their field, and I often knowingly pay a little more for special service and a unique buying experience, as I find items that I probably cannot find anywhere else.

But in the end of the day, just listing products with a few "technological bells and whistles" we know does not work.  The path to building loyalty, especially in niche marketing, is creating an experience that consumers will fall in love with and then this experience helps you definf your company brand around that “unique” experience, resulting in consumers returning to you day in and day out.

The real that issue remains for all shopping destination sites is whether they can build a self-sustaining business model by building brand loyalty around a shopping destination site.  Can shopping destination sites create a “Neiman Marcus” online, which we all know has surpassed its competitors because of their superlative human, face-to-face interaction and not because of technology bells and whistles?  For me this i"special experinece" is still very hard to duplicate solely online and remains the “Holy Grail” of building a very successful online business.

In the meantime, while the shopping comparison sites battle it out, the great news for small to mid-sized online merchants is that they now have lots of new, niche destinations in which to market and sell their products to increase revenues and brand recognition…and that isn’t a bad thing, now is it?

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Niche shopping destination sites are popping up left and right = good news!

2. New niche shopping destination sites that bring "focused" shoppers can lead to better sales and branding opportunities for the small to mid-sized online retailer.

3. E-commerce is evolving every day and now is the time to get involved, get educated, and leverage what the marketplace offers.

4. Experiment with niche shopping destination sites, the sales results may surprise you!