SHOP.com Adds Back to School Shopping Features for Online Merchants and Shoppers

Well, I was "jolly" yesterday because "tis the season" for comparison shopping engines and other shopping destination sites to enhance their functionality before the school shopping and holiday day season approaches. 

[Special Note: I work with many of the comparison shopping engines and shopping destination sites, over 150 , so I remain very conscious of updating eTaildTail readers on new things that are happening with the comparison shopping engines. I am fortunate to have close relationships with many of them, so, if you need information on a comparison shopping engine and you can't get the answer you are looking for from them directly, please email me at chip AT merchantadvantage.com or chip AT eTaildTail.com; I will try and get an answer for you.]

Okay, yes, we are in the middle of summer, but, if online merchants are going to utilize comparison shopping engines effectively to reach customers for the school and holiday seasons, now is the time to realize their value and to start working with them. Yes, now.

The reason I say this is becasue often it takes a good 15-45 days for comparison shopping engines to ensure that the product catalog of an online merchant is properly optimized throughout all of a particular comparison shopping engine.

A close friend of eTaildTail and MerchantAdvantage is Shop.com, which has created some wonderful new navigation methods for shoppers and listing options for online merchants.

Shop.com works with merchants either via a pay-per-click and/or a pay-per-transaction model.  So I encourage all online merchants to check out the "new and improved" Shop.com and see how they are working hard to attract their key female demographic.

MerchantAdvantage supports all of Shop.com's features and can help any online merchant feed their product catalog to them easily and cost effectively.

Here is Shop.com's announcement of their new offerings:

SHOP.comTM Helps Busy Moms Save Time and Money This Back-to-School Season

New Kids Department Debuts at One of the Biggest Back-to-School Shopping Destinations on the Web

MONTEREY, Calif.--(July 31, 2008)--To help take the “stresswork” out of back-to-school shopping, SHOP.com (www.shop.com ), the destination comparison shopping engine designed for women, today announced the launch of a new Kids shopping department featuring up to 75 percent off virtually everything for kids and baby. The new Kids department, which features a myriad of favorite brands, including Roxy, Skechers, Nike, North Face, Carter’s and more, complements SHOP.com’s already comprehensive offering of the latest clothing, gear and accessories to send kids of all ages back to school.

SHOP.com’s multi-merchant marketplace enables consumers to conveniently find and compare products and prices from thousands of merchants. Consumers can purchase on the SHOP.com web site using SHOP.com’s proprietary universal shopping cart, OneCart®, or purchase directly from hundreds of partner stores.

“One-stop shopping convenience is of the utmost importance around the busy back-to-school season,” said Mondy Beller, Senior Vice President, Marketing for SHOP.com. “The call of duty for Moms particularly at this time of year reinforces that women shop for their family first, so we’re pleased to offer a robust online shopping destination that saves women time, money and their sanity during this hectic period.”

The new Kids section at SHOP.com covers all the shopping needs for busy consumers, offering a wide selection of products in seven key categories, as follows:

Baby Clothing & Shoes - - A stylish assortment of clothes and shoes for baby and toddler from popular baby brands, including Luvable Friends, French Toast and Ugg.

Kids’ Clothing & Shoes - - Apparel to take kids from the schoolyard to the playground in style from brands, including Baby Phat, Mossimo, GUESS?, Ralph Lauren and Quicksilver.

Kids’ Rooms - - One-stop kids’ room shop offers kids' room items - - from bedding to bedroom furniture and decorative accents - - to make kiddies feel at home; a high-quality selection from merchants, such as KidKraft, Olive Kids, Room Magic and Loft...."

<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article on all of the new product category offerings by Shop.com and more!!!  It is a quick and informative read....and you can possibly win a $1,000 shopping spree. Click away!

Well done Shop.com.

-- Chip Arndt

PriceGrabber Market Reporter "Grabs" Online Merchants Attention and Boosts Sales Conversions

I am happy to share with the eTaildTail community PriceGrabber's latest updates to their Market Reporter application for clients.

Many PriceGrabber clients are very happy with PriceGrabber and have had wonderful success in selling products through their shopping comparison site. Many of our clients at MerchantAdvantage have had wonderful success feeding their product catalog data to PriceGrabber resulting in sales. I encourage all online merchants to look into PriceGrabber as a viable marketing channel to sell your products.

You can either feed to them directly or you can try a data-feed management tool with robust analytics to analyze all of your data feeds across all your channel. MerchantAdvantage's Channel Management with Chanalytics application is a good place to start. MerchantAdvantage feeds to 150+ marketing channels and is configured to work with PriceGrabber in minutes.

PriceGrabber's Market Reporter has some wonderful new features which really can help their clients understand the marketplace and how their products perform on PriceGrabber.

Most important, PriceGrabber provides excellent research and other analysis that can help any online merchant sell better using comparison shopping engines and other shopping destination sites.

If you sell on PriceGrabber, I hope you use their Market Reporter application; it is excellent. And if you don't sell on PriceGrabber yet, try it!

Here is an overview from PriceGrabber's Market Reporter site for more information:

Market Reporter provides near real-time market research, customized to your individual needs.

Market Reporter gives you access to e-commerce shopping data from millions of consumers. Simply select the product, category, or manufacturer you want to analyze. Then, with a single click, you can see: demand curve, top manufacturers, market share data, price history, price elasticity, numbers of retailers, referrals by state, referred dollars, and much more.

While helping you track market share, Market Reporter makes it easy to follow traffic patterns with pricing trends and aggregate buying habits. PriceGrabber's database tracks thousands of the most actively purchased products.

PriceGrabber's Consumer Behavior Reports are sourced by surveying online shoppers and Market Reporter. These market research reports are used to inform industry analysts, media, and retailers on the latest research trends in the online shopping space.

If up to the minute numbers, a massive database, and detailed analytical capabilities are crucial to your success, make Market Reporter a permanent part of your research budget.

For more information, please take an online tour or contact pgmarket AT pricegrabber.com

Here are some screen grabs of a few of their features to give you a taste of what you can expect to see:

Home Page Design: Applying The "Dont Make Me Think Test"

A few weeks ago, I talked about "Best Practices To Working With Comparison Shopping Engines and Why Online Merchants Should Work with Online Shopping Sites". 

One of my first tips was to ensure that your storefront was worthy of marketing.  Some people asked me for more information on what I meant.

Well, it just so happens that eTaildTail friends at Get Elastic have a perfect article, by Linda Bustos, today about how to ensure that your Web storefront is worthy of marketing.

Check it out; it is a quick read and has some great tips and tricks and visuals too!

-- Chip Arndt

Home Page Design: Applying The "Dont Make Me Think Test"

From Get Elastic
by Linda Bustos

July 28, 2008 -- "If you’re not familiar with Steve Krug’s web usability classic Don’t Make Me Think, it’s an entertaining and informative introduction to web site optimization. Though its screenshots and examples are quickly looking “old school” - its principles still stand. I “think” any web design and ecommerce professional should give it a read, and then give their own websites the “don’t make me think” test.

Today I’m going to apply the concepts from Don’t Make Me Think to The Source - a chain of electronics retail shops we used to call Radio Shack here in Canada, until it was acquired by Circuit City. I’m a fan of Circuit City’s web design and marketing, and have praised them many times before on this blog which is why I had high expectations from The Source’s web presence. But I found myself “thinking” very hard on this site.

This post is not intended to slam the design, but to point out areas that could be improved based on generally accepted design and usability principles.

(If you want to play along, you can click on the image to enlarge and see if you can predict which 10 issues I’m going to address in this post)..."

<<CLICK HERE>>> to read more and get Linda Bustos' tips to building a better storefront.  Enjoy the read, it is a good one.

buySAFE Selects MerchantAdvantage as First Product Syndication Partner to Help Online Merchants Grow Sales

It is always fun to work with professionals are changing the macrocosm of ecomerce and mcommerce (mobile commerce).

Earlier this month buySAFE announced a partnership with MerchantAdvantage, a company I co-founded, in regard to MerchantAdvantage being the first "Syndication Partner" to feed product catalog data seamlesly into their new, buySAFE bonded shopping network.   We are excited about this partnership, as it gives online merchants the best options to reach customers wherever they are shopping.

The buySAFE bonded shopping network is a new online shopping model/experience that protects both the online merchant and consumer by leveraging the highly respected buySAFE bonding guarantee on all purchases.  I encourage all online merchants to check them out and let them know Chip over at eTaildTail sent you.

Please read below the press announcement as listed with Forbes.com. I am happy to share it with the eTaildTail community and thank you buySAFE.

-- Chip Arndt

As seen on Forbes.com

ARLINGTON, Va., July, 2008 -- buySAFE, Inc. has announced a strategic partnership with MerchantAdvantage, a leading tool-based data-feed management solution for ecommerce and mobile commerce. MerchantAdvantage was selected as buySAFE's first product syndication partner for the Bonded Shopping Network (BSN).

MerchantAdvantage is the only industry solution that doesn't charge setup costs, fees for transactions, or a revenue share when optimizing, feeding, and analyzing client product catalog feeds to over 150 shopping destination sites, comparison shopping engines, mobile shopping engines, affiliate sites, and marketing channels. These channels include marketplaces -- Amazon.com and Shop.com -- and now BSN shopping sites such as TheFind (www.thefind.com) and www.buysafeshopping.com.

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full story.

Best Practices to Working with Comparison Shopping Engines

eTaildTail likes to give tips and ticks to online merchants to help them better use comparison shopping engines.  Here is some guest advice from Michael Lambert, CEO of MerchantAdvantage.

Chip Arndt

Best Practices to Working with Comparison Shopping Engines

"Timing is everything. Although it is very important to feed your most current product information to Comparison Shopping Engines, they typically "Index" them before consumers view the information.It is best to be sure and upload your product data just before the CSE sweeps, or imports their data, and this typically happens a few times a day at varied times depending on the CSE.

But, when possible, it is good to allow a day or so between feeds to allow proper indexing within the CSE, and particularly Google Base. So, if your product information has not changed, wait until it has (up to a few days) before feeding again. This will allow your products to be properly categorized and indexed, and help your performance within that CSE.

And as always:

1. Feed to any FREE comparison shopping engines -- as your conversions can't be bad -- this includes free sites as, Google Product Search, Microsoft Cashback, Microsoft LIve Search, and theFind.com

2. <<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article.

Michael Lambert
CEO, MerchantAdvantage

Marketing for Holiday Season Should Begin in October

This just in from the "experts." It is a good read for all online merchants! Prepare now for online holiday shopping....or very soon. :-)

From eTaildTail friends over at Internet Retailer and MarketLive:

"While most consumers don’t start holiday shopping in earnest until the day after Thanksgiving, online retailers should begin marketing for the season as early as October, according to MarketLive Inc., an e-commerce platform provider.

During 2007’s fourth quarter, online merchants in the MarketLive Performance Index experienced an overall conversion rate of 4.8%, an 18% increase from the third quarter. The engagement rate (visit-to-cart) ratio rose 9.87%, up 4% from the prior quarter, and cart abandonment dropped 6% to 55.64%."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article

Chip Arndt

Everest Software Names MerchantAdvantage Top Data Feed Management Software Tool

I just wanted to thank Ryan Brown, Everest Software, for the accolade and recommendation from the recent Internet Retailer 2008 show in Chicago to utilize MerchantAdvantage and our cost-effective, Channel Management with Chanalytics Professional and Lite products.

We work hard at MerchantAdvatage to provide the best value for small to mid-sized businesses to manage their product catalog data feeds to ecommerce and mobile commerce comparison shopping engines, affiliate sites -- as Commission Junction and LinkShare -- and over 150 other shopping destination sites and marketplaces -- as Amazon, Become.com, buySAFE bonded shopping network, eBay!, FindGifts.com, Gifts.com, Google Product Search, JellyFish, Like.com, Microsoft Cashback, myCoupons.com, mPoria.com, mShopper.com, Pricegrabber, Pronto, Shop.com, Shopzilla, Smarter, SortPrice, theFind.com, Underbid, Yahoo!Shopping, and many, many others -- without charging any listing, set up or transaction fees or revenue share.

Here is the full review of MerchantAdvantage and other recommendations from Ryan Brown and Everest Software.

"MerchantAdvantage facilitates the marketing of your products through online shopping sites, coupon sites and mobile commerce sites..."

Chip Arndt
Co-Founder|EVP
MerchantAdvantage, LLC

Increase Conversion Rates When Using Comparison Shopping Engines

Emails have come into eTaildTail recently in reference to my recent commentary titled: Why Online Merchants Should List Their Product Catalog on Comparison Shopping Engines.

Most of those emails ask questions related to Return on Add Spend ("ROAS"), when using comparison shopping engines and shopping destination sites, and how best to increase this very important business metric.

I defer to an excellent read over at Channel Advisor with Mark Vandegrift, who summarizes The Importance of Conversion Rate when using comparison shopping engines and shopping destination sites.

Channel Advisor is indeed in the same business that I am and my company MerchantAdvantage, and, while some might consider them a competitor, I prefer to see them as colleagues in helping online retailers around the globe gain more success when executing their ecommerce and mobile commerce strategies.

The Importance of Conversion Rate is a nice complimentary commentary to my prior blog. Here is the beginning of that commentary:

"How can I improve the return I get from Comparison Shopping Engines?"

"This is by far the question I hear most from merchants using CSEs. The answer is pretty simple: Improve your conversion rate. Making that happen, however, isn't quite as easy.

First, let's look at why conversion rate is so critical..." <<<CLICK HERE>>> to continue that read.

I hope that both commentaries help small to mid-sized business increase sales, and ROAS (conversions from clicks to sales) when using comparison shopping engines and shopping destination sites.

Welcome back from 4th of July weekend and onward we charge together.

Chip Arndt

Happy July 4th Weekend from Chip Arndt

Regardless of difficult economic times, we are one nation together.  We can and will overcome.

This weekend reminds us of who we are, our beginnings as a nation, being with family and friends, and thanking and remembering our thousands of troops and their families, at home and abroad, for their service and sacrifices.

Thank you for reading eTaildTail and being a friend. Happy July 4th weekend.

Chip Arndt
Co-Founder|EVP of MerchantAdvantage

Yahoo Shopping Adds Bid-Per-Click Option to Product Listings...Update

Online shopping is here to stay.

Now it is just of matter of finding out which comparison shopping engines, and shopping destination sites, can actually make a profitable business out of online shopping while Google Product Search, Microsoft Cash Back, Live Search, and theFind.com continue to provide their shopping destination sites free to both online merchants and shoppers alike.

Yahoo! Shopping is an excellent comparison shopping engine and certainly has a wonderful worldwide brand (yes, they still do, for all of you cynics out there) which, in turn, brings millions of buyers and comparison price shoppers to their online mall to purchase products.  How many do you ask?  Aprroximately 18-20 million unique visitors a month -- still an impressive number even if it has not grown much beyond that number.

So how does Yahoo! Shopping plan to upgrade, bring more shoppers, and keep online merchants happy when using them  -- as this is the group from which they make their money?

The following read is a follow up to my prior entry about Yahoo! and their additioinal bid supported marketplace I wrote about in May.

What WAS at Yahoo! Shopping

1. Yahoo ranked items based on keyword relevancy, categorization, click history, and customer feedback.

2. Listing has been difficult for merchants who struggle to get traffic to their products from Yahoo’s large database of products.

3. Set-fee-per-click format = merchants pay a flat rate for product listings in Yahoo! Shopping categories and have little control over positioning.

4. Yahoo! used to host the premier comparison engine but has lagged behind in the last couple of years in terms of traffic and interface.

5. "Innovations have been few and far between, traffic has been tepid, and retailers have seen flat sales overall"...states Kevin Packler, eTaildTail friend over at Channel Dollars, a wonderful blog that delves into more technical aspcects of working with comparison shopping engines than I often do! See I love experts, sometimes!

What IS NOW at Yahoo! Shopping

1. Online retailers have more options.

2. Bidding mechanism creates more competition among merchants and more flexibility in terms of how merchants may list their products and the bid-fee-per-click format positions those merchants highest who bid the most of key words, which is similar to keyword bidding using Yahoo!, Google, Ask, or MSN (Live Search) search.

3. A NEW Site redesign that compliments existing "set-fee-per-click" merchant product listings fees and new "bid-fee-per-" model. This additional bid feature means merchants can gain significant history within Yahoo! Shopping's algorithms, and thereby rankings, which will push their products to the top of result pages.

4. Product categories have increased from 64 categories to 1,200+, which allows merchants' products to appear in more places than they could under broader headings - but only if an online merchant maps the categories correctly, ergo try using a Web-based tool to help you.

5. "Category expansion allows merchants to bid on more granular product areas in addition to broad categories. For example, merchants now can bid on “bath towel,” instead of just “home & garden.” The added categories give merchants greater opportunities to improve their position in product rankings," stated Greg Hintz, General Manager of Yahoo!

Finally Greg Hintz adds: "The effects of the fee change on pricing might depend on the merchant. Because we are adding more categories it’s hard to say whether there will be an up or down effect on pricing. Some [categories] will cost more, some less. We are giving merchants the ability to tailor their campaigns to the categories they make the most money on. ROI should go up”

If you would like to read more analysis about changes at Yahoo! Shopping and all of the new Yahoo! Product Submit features, check out eTaildTail friends over at CPC Strategy; they have a great write up, and you can read it for free, promise! :-)