This interview marks the second of two we have conducted with the folks over at Channel Intelligence. For more insights into the company and their services be sure to check out the first interview we did with Vik Murty about SellPath.

As a core part of their solution, Channel Intelligence offers industry leading comparison shopping and data feed services for merchants and eCommerce sellers who are interested in receiving high-end channel marketing technology from a company with a long standing reputation in this industry. The individual comparison shopping services are designed to make the process of generating, uploading, optimizing and tracking feeds as simple and easy as possible on the publisher. Also, they are setup in a way that makes it absolutely clear which campaigns are producing what, giving additional insight into the campaigns that may need to be improved or tweaked in order to produce the desired results.

ChannelBrain is Freeportway’s (parent company) service for eCommerce merchants looking to market or sell within Online marketing channels such as comparison shopping engines (CSE’s) and shopping portals. ChannelBrain’s solution is designed to help and facilitate the process of syndicating various products offered by merchants and eTailers to numerous CSE’s all from one, simple to use location and tool. In addition to the formatting, ease of syndication and one-click solution, ChannelBrain also offers users the ability to create their campaigns so that progress, or lack of, can be tracked.

We have recently added a new section to our comparison shopping guide dedicated to the top data feed companies that currently offer comparison shopping engine listing services including feed generation, submission, distribution, management and tracking. Some merchants find it difficult to setup, manage and track their individual CSE campaigns and sometimes they just don’t have the time to deal with all that’s involved. For this reason, several companies now offer different services designed to help ease or take-over these tasks for any merchant who may fit into either category.

One such company featured on our data feeds list, DoubleClick Performics, was gracious enough to spend some time with me in order to discuss their comparison shopping solution details more in depth. I hope to eventually take the time to talk with each company on our list so that our readers can pick and choose based on the individual needs or goals of any CSE campaign.

Today Kriyari, Inc., a Web 2.0 storefront network creator, launched their latest Online retail project, a unique personalized shopping service, called iStorez. Earlier this week I was able to get together with Kriyari’s CEO, Anand Jagannathan, to discuss iStorez in more detail. In addition, I took advantage of the special site launch preview and went through the steps necessary to create and publish my own personal storefront to shop from on iStorez.

The concept behind the newly launched site is wonderful and see all kinds of potential for an “opt-in, opt-out” shopping service like this within the Online selling space, for both merchants and shoppers, but especially for retailers who already run regular email marketing campaigns.

iStorez already has some biggest names in eCommerce participating in their unique shopping experience, including many of the hottest 100 retailers. With strategic partnerships, innovative features and a unique concept to create a more personalized shopping experience, it won’t be long before iStorez becomes a regular destination for today’s most savvy Online consumers. It’s certainly found a permanent home in my shopping bookmarks.

It’s time for another Store Spotlight everyone! I have got to say, this is one of the most fun blog series we have done here at eCommerce Optimization. Already I can tell that we will all learn so much from the top 100 retailers who choose to participate in this interview style QandA. The series really does give us all an inside look into some of the most successful Online retailers in existence today.

eCopt Takes a Look at StacksandStacks.com:

Today’s Store Spotlight features an inside look into StacksandStacks.com. We were lucky enough to catch up with Mel Ronick, President of StacksandStacks.com, to ask him about their business, background, customers, products, design, marketing, team and other factors that have attributed to their success over the years. Basically, we wanted to find out some of the things they have done that has led to them becoming a 2008 Hot 100 Retailer. In the process, we hope that others can learn and benefit from what has worked and what hasn’t during their time in the Online retail business.

Brief Article & Series Overview:

One of the things I love about my job is that I get to dissect and analyze some of the things that I think Online sellers are doing right and which areas they could possibly be doing better on. It’s fun to me mostly because no two eCommerce sites are exactly the same and there are so many variables and factors that go into doing eCommerce correctly that it can be extremely challenging to do it perfectly, no matter how large or small your companies and budgets are. In short, there’s always room to improve and there is always something to do when running your own business, Online or off.

This week we are kicking off a new series called Store Spotlight. You may have seen the category or text near the top of some of our pages highlighting this area, but up until now we have not had a chance to get the series started (mostly due to client duties, CSE interviews, timing, etc).

I am proud to announce that this article marks the first ever eCommerce Optimization Store Spotlight. Hopefully, with your loyal readership and the support of others this will become a regular thing on our blog, and should teach each and every one of us a little more about what other eCommerce companies are doing that work, things that don’t work and other unique ideas that have been tried over the years, months or days Online.

Ok folks, so this is THE interview of interviews and the one I have been wanting to do so badly I could taste it! My main goal when originally starting these CSE interviews was to provide merchant numbers, product numbers, portal goals and other information to help sellers pick and choose which marketplaces to list their products with. In order to accomplish my goal, it is imperative that I get interviews from ALL the CSE’s, including the BIG guys like Google, Yahoo and Live.com shopping engines. The reason I am so happy to get this interview, other than the fact that Google gave me the time of day, is that this QandA with Google completes two of the three big interviews I need (Live seems to always be last in search, but I will continue to try them).

Become.com, a product comparison shopping engine and shopping research site since 2004, is a one-stop-shop for shoppers looking for great product search, relevant results, good product information, multiple product views, shopping news, ‘no surprise’ pricing, local results and social shopping aspects like the ability to save products you like for later review. Become.com features thousands of merchants who offer millions of products. They also power other shopping services such as the recently announced launch of Washingtonpost.com’s new shopping section.

Become is also sporting a new look and appears to have a new logo, my guess is it won’t be long until they also leap more into the social aspects of shopping and product comparisons. They are already featuring top users, recommendation lists and consumer reviews on the front page and individual product pages. Some of the social features and UGC on Become include reviews, buying guides, discussion forums, search suggestions and other product information or details.

We are working to provide comprehensive, relevant, and unbiased research information to help you choose the right product. We also provide a comparison shopping service to help you get the best deal. Finding the right product at the best price to save you time and money –that is our goal. We are meeting this goal by developing innovative new technologies and search services.

TheFind.com is one of the most popular comparison shopping engines in existence. It rivals even the biggest product marketplaces including Amazon, eBay, Google Product Search and Yahoo! Shopping. TheFind is one of my personal favorites and I always find myself going back because of the great shopping experiences I have had there. TheFind shopping search engine uses their “Product Ranking Engine” to deliver comprehensive lists of products and their corresponding images, ranked by the leading products, brands, stores and styles on the very first page of results. Their comparison engine displays products across several categories including apparel, shoes, accessories and seasonal items.

We have posted several times about TheFind.com in the past including their Back-to-School shopping promo with PayPal, their shopping widgets and even covered their acquisition of Glimpse.com, a high fashion site they acquired back in August.

Like.com is the first true visual comparison shopping engine, where the contents of photos are used to search and retrieve similar products or items. Like.com utilizes their patented Likeness Technology to create a digital signature that describes any photo’s contents and enables a more accurate query for similar looking products. Initially, Like.com focused on handbags, jewelry, shoes, and watches, now they feature mens and womens apparel, kids clothing and even holiday costumes. Shoppers have the ability to search for a number of items and purchase them from over 2000 leading brand names. Like.com continues to add other aesthetically oriented product categories into their visual comparison engine.