PowerReviews was founded in 2005 by Andrew Chen and Robert Chea and is now considered to be a leading provider of social commerce solutions. The company has helped hundreds of retailers engage customers and build communities online. Internet Retailer included the company in 2009’s Top 500 Solutions Winner. Sites such as RadioShack, Diapers.com, TicketsNow, and Orbitz and many more are using customer reviews systems provided by PowerReviews.

PowerReviews AnswerBox Overview

42% of online shoppers have left a site without purchasing multiple products because they couldn’t get a question answered about just one of the products in their shopping cart.

AnswerBox connects potential buyers with customers and staff while they’re browsing products. This solution streamlines the shopping experience by giving consumers the answers they need without leaving the retailer’s website.

AnswerBox Benefits

• Credible answers from experienced customers and expert staff
• Creates a sense of community between new and loyal customers
• Increase conversion

AnswerBox Features

• Full Moderation: 100% control of content
• Multi-Pronged Response: a variety of informed answers
• Virtual FAQ: common questions of a specific product displayed directly on product page

PowerReviews Blog

InSite is a blog by PowerReviews where they share experiences and insights from the industry with anyone interested in emerging technologies and social commerce.

• Official PowerReviews InSite Blog

Andy Chen, PowerReviews Co-Founder, Answers 5 Questions About Social Commerce

I think a lot of small businesses are interested in social commerce but unsure how to put it into practice. What advise would you give to these eCommerce retailers?

First of all, get started. Social commerce is rapidly evolving, so it’s important that small businesses learn how to learn from, listen to and empower their customers in a meaningful way. The two social commerce tools that intersect both (a) proven and consistent ROI to the merchant; and (b) demanded and desired by the consumer; are Ratings&Reviews and Q&A (we call this AnswerBox), so this is where we would start. Building a “Community” (ala Yelp/Facebook) is further away and not yet a practical application for most businesses.

Are there any common mistakes or misconceptions businesses make when they first engage their consumers?

The “Build it and they will come” approach is a big mistake. Consumer engagement is difficult to create, and it’s important to put the right mechanisms in place to drive engagement. Therefore, PowerReviews always recommends a series of best practices to create awareness and engagement in starting a social commerce program… most importantly to focus on the merchant’s “recent purchasers“, who have the highest propensity to participate.

Reviews and ratings are one of the most popular methods of social commerce. What makes this method so effective? Why do you think people are drawn to reviews and ratings?

There are several trends driving the need and desire by consumers for ratings and reviews. Firstly, consumers have been trained for almost 15 years to seek out ratings and reviews when shopping online by the major eCommerce sites such as Amazon, Ebay, and Zappos.  Therefore, they EXPECT reviews as part of a complete shopping experience.

Secondly, consumers are smart, and understand that no products are right for all people, and that they cannot solely depend on manufacturer or retailer supplied product information. The voices that they trust to guide them to the RIGHT product are their friends and “people like them” (e.g. people with similar needs and lifestyles). Ratings and reviews fill that need exactly.

How can a reviews and ratings system help a small eCommerce business?

Surprisingly, we see that the impact of ratings and reviews are HIGHER for PowerRevews’ small business clients than they are for the larger, well-known companies. There are several factors, in my opinion, that drive this:

Firstly, small businesses typically have more of a specialty/niche vs. a big box feel. One of our clients, for example is Alpaca Direct, which only sells products made from Alpaca. This means that consumers on those sites are naturally more enthusiastic about the products, and often have very specific needs. Reviews from other enthusiasts help other shoppers become more confident that they are buying the “right product“.

Secondly, since small businesses are not as well known as the larger chains, reviews serve as endorsements for the merchant overall, in addition to the specific product. The message that the merchant can send by posting reviews is that “yes, lots of customers have put down their money, received a product, and were asked about their experience“, which is a tremendous confidence building tool that clearly separates the fly-by-night operations from the legitimate small businesses.

Allowing consumers to share ideas is not only valuable to potential buyers but it can also be valuable feedback for the merchant. How can a business best use and gather this information?

This is a fairly broad area, and perhaps one of the largest opportunities for manufacturers and retailers to get value from their social commerce programs. There is an adage in the usability or consumer research world use — “measure what they do, not what they say“. Therefore, PowerReviews takes the approach that the content within the reviews, or AnswerBox, content is where the most useful insights and ideas live vs. creating a separate solution to solicit ideas from customers.

Many of our clients are already using their data to drive powerful business value such as:

• Optimizing their inventory by returning low rated products to the vendors
• Driving their merchandising by highlighting top-rated products
• Understanding specific product flaws or gaps in their inventory
• Improving their product content based on feedback from customers

We support these insights in several ways:

• Our tag-based reviews allow our clients to quantitatively understand the customer feedback (e.g. we can easily understand the consensus around the pros, cons, uses, and buyer-types for each product… and compare them across the category). This is something that we had previously done by hand, or by unreliable natural language processing techniques…or not at all.
• We provide a “Product Suggestions” module (for free) as part of our ratings and reviews solution. This allows customers to provide their own ideas to improve the product after they’ve tried it for themselves. This is much more effective than a regular focus group, because these reviewers have recently purchased the product and are in the best position to provide thoughtful feedback.
• We moderate 100% of the content and flag any reviews that might be interesting to a merchant’s customer service, product, and/or merchandising teams.
• We provide detailed reports back to our clients that allow them to route the data to the appropriate category or brand-level business owner.

In a nutshell, we absolutely see how the underlying data from consumers can dramatically improve core retail and manufacturing processes in the near future.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

A big thanks to Andy Chen of PowerReviews for taking to time to give some good advice to our readers.

I also want to thank Lisa Tarter of Tidal Wave PR for helping me put this interview together. Like many of our readers, I’m still learning about social commerce and I hope they found Andrew’s answers as beneficial as I did. A common theme that Chen and many others emphasize is the importance of retailers to listen to their customers. The value of the feedback from customers can often be overlooked. However, using it to evolve your business is one of the most important parts of social commerce. We’ll be posting a few other articles exploring social commerce soon so stay tuned.

Back in September 07′ we covered Lemonade’s launch, and business model in detail so I won’t be going into too much about the company here as with some of our other comparison shopping interviews. I have enjoyed watching the growth of Lemonade’s application, brand and user base. They seem to have found a perfect fit in between the eCommerce and affiliate spaces.

Basically, Lemonade offers merchants or entrepreneurs the ability to create and publish their own personal “lemonade stand” packed with products or items from the Internet’s top online retailers. Merchants can pick and choose from over 2 million products from roughly 200,000 top eCommerce sellers including retails such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, Zappos and TigerDirect.

Users can then place their personal lemonade stand widget in a number of places including Blogger, Vox, Facebook, Yahoo! 360 and more. Once the user has created their stand and has the products they wish to recommend loaded, they have the opportunity to earn revenue each time a shopper clicks through to the retailer’s page to buy an item. Commissions range from 5 to 15 percent of the sale price to anyone who delivers a paying customer. Certain online retailers will pay up to $10 for each new customer, while others may just pay Lemonade merchants each time a visitor clicks on a link to see recommended products.

Add your favorite stuff to a lemonade stand and put it on your personal profile, website, blog, wherever. It’s free and when someone purchases from your stand you get paid.

Lemonade Marketplace:

Lemonade’s merchant marketplace is a collection of individual stands/widgets that have been created using Lemonade’s application. Shoppers are able to browse different stands including best performing, most viewed and top rated or featured stands. Shoppers are also able to view stands by creation date (new stands) and they can even rate or review the stands they like the most.

Tom Zawacki, CEO, Answers 10 Questions About Lemonade Marketplace:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Lemonade?

There are more than 200 retailer partners of Lemonade, including Apple, Sony, Estee Lauder, The Gap, Lands’ End, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Old Navy and Wal-Mart.

Roughly how many products are included within Lemonade?

Right now we have a selection of over 2 million products from some of the best companies in the world. We have access to over ten million products and brands, and we will continue to add to Lemonade based on our users requests.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on Lemonade support and coding teams?

Lemonade currently has 3 full-time employees with a team of up to 15 contract resources.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

Lemonade enables individuals to make money by setting up a digital lemonade stand, distributing it on their social networking profile, blog or personal website, effectively starting their own e-business. Users currently have set up Lemonade Stands on Facebook, MySpace, AOL People Connect, Yahoo! 360, Blogger, SixApart, and many others.

Lemonade Inc. will also feature every Lemonade Stand in the Lemonade Marketplace section.

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Lemonade offers it’s users?

• In under 5 minutes, a user can set up a personalize e-business, their Lemonade Stand
• Users add personal reviews and recommendations of the brands/products they promote in their stand
• Forrester reports that word of mouth recommendations are the #1 driver of online purchases
• The ability to earn extra money by referring products & services to shoppers, and via online advertising on their stand
• The ability to learn about starting and running a business
• The ability to add the Lemonade stand to social networking profiles, blogs or individual websites
• The opportunity to shop from the Lemonade Community – to connect with people like them who are finding great deals or the best brands/products for a particular need

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Lemonade offers merchants?

There are currently approximately 150 million individuals who have set up a social networking profile, blog or personal website. According to Internet research company comScore, these social networking websites and blogs receive an estimated 170 million unique visitors per month. Partnership with Lemonade.com enables companies to extend their brand presence, e-commerce footprint and loyalty programs onto the personal pages of these individual authors.

Lemonade’s Enterprise Solution allows merchants to private label the platform to offer the Lemonade experience within their own branded context. The Lemonade Enterprise Solution enables merchants to activate their most loyal brand advocates as an extension of their sales staff (e.g., the Avon Lady, Tupperware Parties, etc.)

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

We launched in October 2007. An upgrade of the entire experience, Lemonade 2.0, will be live in September 2008. We have given our users a full-page e-commerce experience for when they set up a stand, enhanced our search engine and shopping experience, and upgraded the functionality of our widget. We continue to add new retailers and products every month. We expect to release new features every 4 months.

How does Lemonade plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Amazon and eBay are not competitors, in fact they are partners. We have a completed contract with Amazon to offer their products in Lemonade Stands, and we hope to work with eBay in 2009 in the same way. In addition, we are enabling individuals to start-up their own e-business by recommending products/brands/services from leading merchants vs. eBay which enables individuals to sell their own things in an auction environment. We think we will have a very strong relationship with both Amazon and eBay.

Where do you see Lemonade in the next 3-5 years?

In 2007, eCommerce in the U.S. is a $150 billion marketplace. U.S. Online advertising is a $20 billion marketplace – That is $170 billion today – Forrester projects these numbers to grow to almost $350 billion in 5 years. Today, 0% of eCommerce and Online Advertising in the U.S. is driven from the Social Economy. We believe that in 5 years at least 10% of U.S. eCommerce and Online Advertising will be driven by the Social Economy, which is a $35 billion marketplace. Lemonade Inc. is in position to be a leader in the Social Economy, and if we can capture just 1% of this new marketplace we will be a $350 million company.

In addition, Lemonade Inc. will expand internationally over the next 2 years. We will look at very large online populations with high growth rates such as China, the greater Asia Pacific Region, India and South America.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Lemonade, do you personally use to shop from?

iTunes, Amazon, Sephora (for my wife), eLuxury.com (for my wife), EastBay Sports (for my baseball team), Netflix

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Tom: I really appreciate the detailed thought and attention that you were able to provide in the QandA answers, it sounds like some exciting things are happening on the Lemonade front. It’s great to see you guys nearly through your first year! I love being able to cover a launch and come back to see where the company is after a bit of time in the space, it’s been interesting and fun watching your brand and application grow. I hope you are able to find as much success in the international arena as you’ve seen here in the U.S. I can’t wait to see Lemonade 2.0 in September!! Please consider sending me an update when you’re ready to launch, I’d be happy to cover it on the blog. Thanks again Tom (and all Lemonade.com staff) for providing such a cool concept application and for the support you’ve shown the online selling industry.

To our readers: I certainly hope you’ve all enjoyed this latest comparison shopping engine (CSE) QandA with Tom Zawacki from Lemonade.com as much as I have. As always we have several more interviews out there and in the works for the future, so check back regularly. If you’re lazy and want us to deliver the content to you, simply grab our feed or subscribe to email updates and we’ll send the good stuff to you directly. You may also wish to read back in our archives at some of the ecommerce interviews that have already been published.

Lemonade Marketplace is Featured as one of the shopping marketplaces on our Product Listing Guide!

Shopping.com is an eBay company as of August 2005 and is considered to be one of the original pioneers of comparison shopping and online product search. Since launching, Shopping.com has grown beyond expectations and continues to remain among the fastest growing, most visited eCommerce shopping engines available today. Shopping.com offers services for both consumers and merchants including powerful search tools, technology and unbiased reviews for millions of products, thousands of brands and several top online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Shopping.com has expanded their operations globally and are now able to offer their innovative shopping services and tools in several different languages and countries worldwide including the U.K., Germany, France, Australia, Ireland and more to come.

Shopping.com’s mission is to help consumers anywhere use the power of information to easily find, compare and buy anything online – in less time and for the best price!

Shopping.com’s What’s In Store Blog:

• Official Shopping.com Blog

The Shopping.com What’s In Store Blog is the place for all things Shopping.com. Merchants and consumers will find information and insights related to online shopping, buying and review trends, merchant seller tips, favorite staff product picks or finds and even information from industry professionals, experts and other blog contributors. Be sure to drop by the official Shopping.com blog, there’s sure to be something there for everyone whether you’re a merchant or shopper.

Shopping.com’s WorkShop:

• Shopping.com WorkShop

I thought this was an interesting concept and something I hadn’t really seen offered by a comparison shopping engine. It’s called the Shopping.com WorkShop. Basically, it’s a special section on their website where Shopping.com features some of their innovative projects, new shopping tools or technology and new site features that they wish to test and receive feedback about.

The WorkShop is pretty bare right now so don’t expect much today, but I for one will be keeping the link in a handy place so that I can revisit it on occasion and provide feedback if I have any.

Linda Snow, Marketing Director, Answers 10 Questions About Shopping.com:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Shopping.com?

5,000 active U.S. merchants.

Roughly how many products are included within Shopping.com?

More than 16,000 brands, 340 categories and Shopping.com includes 65% of the Internet’s top 100 retailers.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on Shopping.com support and coding teams?

We do not disclose the number of employees at Shopping.com.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

By using Shopping.com’s powerful API program, which allows third-party access to our highly structured and comprehensive product catalog, Shopping.com powers the shopping experience for hundreds of Web sites including Answers.com, DigitalAdvisor, HowStuffWorks.com, Surprise.com and Ziff Davis’ PCMag.com. Other partners include MySimon, ProductWiki, Reseller Ratings and Wize.com.

Our API users can customize and reconfigure the Shopping.com catalog and search tools as needed, tailoring them to their preference and extending the reach of the platform.

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Shopping.com offers it’s users?

We aim for a site that is designed for ease of use and simple navigation. We’ve constructed our site with special features including the What’s Hot, Shop by Brand and Top 5 sections. Additionally, we launched a gift cards page during the 2007 holiday season; within the category, users can easily sort and shop for cards from a variety of vendors – all in one place. All of these features make it easy for consumers to shop for great deals.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Shopping.com offers merchants?

In Shopping.com’s recent eCommerce Pulse Index survey, we found that 45 percent of our merchants are adjusting their sales and/or marketing strategy because of the stagnant economy. Our most recent offerings for merchants are designed to help them generate additional revenue on Shopping.com and increase conversion to sale. This includes an innovative Value Based Pricing model, which automatically adjusts the charges per click to merchants based on the publisher’s overall traffic performance. Also, Product Performance Reporting helps merchants quickly and easily identify important sales data to optimize and improve their product feeds and overall campaign. Additionally, a key part of the Shopping.com experience is the Distributed Commerce API that allows merchants to recreate a comparison shopping experience on their own site to monetize more traffic and improve buyer experience.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

We constantly solicit feedback from our merchants to determine what changes need to be made in order to maintain the best experience on Shopping.com.

How does Shopping.com plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Shopping.com is an eBay company under the marketplaces umbrella. The synergies between eBay and Shopping.com provide consumers with unique shopping experiences as well as provide a mechanism by which merchants can reach their target audiences. Regarding search engines, our Distributed Commerce model provides flexibility to how merchants reach their customers.

Where do you see Shopping.com in the next 3-5 years?

Our focus has always been and will continue to be delivering the best shopping experience.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Shopping.com, do you personally use to shop from?

Actually, with the thousands of merchants and brands on Shopping.com I always find what I am looking for.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Linda: This is fantastic Linda. I greatly appreciate the time you took from your busy schedule to take part in our little QandA about Shopping.com. I have always liked your company’s vision and CSE service, so it’s great to finally have caught up with you all. By the looks of things you’ve been busy, I love the concept of the WorkShop beta testing and feedback section, that’s very creative and helps to engage your users/merchants which is always great in my opinion, so bravo to you and your team for that idea. I also like the fact that you conduct surveys regularly so that you are always able to improve your service and meet the expectations and demand of your users, that is really important these days. Thanks again for being available and for offering such quality answers to our CSE questions, I look forward to seeing your continued growth within the industry, keep up the good work.

To our readers: I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading our most recent comparison shopping engine (CSE) QandA with Linda Snow from Shopping.com. As always we have several more interviews out there and in the works for the future, so check back regularly or grab our feed or email updates and we’ll send the good stuff to you directly. You may also wish to read back in our archives at some of the ecommerce interviews that have already been published.

Shopping.com is Featured as one of the comparison shopping engines on our Product Listing Guide!

GoDataFeed specializes in the automated delivery of product data feeds to over 40 major comparison shopping engines for merchants interested in saving time and effectively sending, optimizing and analyzing their feed content. GoDataFeed works together with merchant sellers, search engine marketing and optimization firms, hosting companies and a variety of other service providers, many of which are attracted to GoDataFeed’s affordable, efficient model designed to increase visitors and product/brand reach within the individual shopping channels.

In addition to the data feed automation, optimization and tracking processes, GoDataFeed truly cares about their clients success and always aims to exceed their expectations by offering the support and resources needed to meet the demands of their individual client needs.

GoDataFeed Comparison Shopping Solutions Overview:

• Promote products on more than 40 comparison shopping sites & affiliate networks
• Enhance product placement with built-in shopping engine categorization and validation
• Customize feed campaigns for sale, holiday, free-shipping, brand-name promotions and more

Data Feed Automation

• Easy one-time setup process
• Feed fresh product data
• Full integration with Yahoo! Store, ShopSite and Volusion 5.0

Data Feed Optimization

• Accurate product placement
• Robust field and category mapping
• Built-in categorizations and validation for all shopping engines

Data Feed Tracking

• Engine and product-level performance
• Real time data on clicks, conversions and revenue
• Determine your best products and shopping channels

GoDataFeed Features:

• Automate your data imports via FTP or instantly import your fully-integrated ShopSite, Volusion 5.0 or Yahoo! Stores
• Ensure your product data is always fresh with nightly FTP updates
• Submit your feeds automatically- daily, weekly or monthly
• Enhance product placement with robust category & filter rules that let you customize feeds and merchandise products where customers expect to find them
• Validate feeds against each shopping engine’s requirements to ensure your product data is accurate and complete
• Customize feed campaigns by adding or modifying values to your feed- like adding tracking tags to your URLs or creating targeted promotional initiatives for sale items, free-shipping, brand name and more
• Real-Time feedback on your clicks, orders and revenue
• Monitor your best performing engines and products
• Determine the best shopping sites for your store

GoDataFeed $.99 Trial:

GoDataFeed offers a 30 day trial of their professional comparison shopping engine solutions. The cost for the trial is only $.99. That’s right, only 99 cents to try GoDataFeed for a whole month. Visit the GoDataFeed trial page and fill out the brief form to sign-up for your $.99 thirty day trial offer.

GoDataFeed Pricing:

All GoDataFeed plans include: Two FREE Feed Setups, FREE Analytics Module & FREE Support

• Starter – 3 Feeds, 5,000 Products, $50/month
• Self-Managed – Unlimited Feeds, 5, 000 Products, $75/month
• Managed – Unlimited Feeds, 5,000 Products, $250/month

* Note: Each plan charges $5.00 extra per each additional 1,000 products

GoDataFeed Blog:

GoDataFeed also has a blog running where anyone can go to get the latest CSE and GDF news along with tips and resources from the experts at GoDataFeed. Simply visit their main page and look for the link to their blog in the top right corner.

• Official GoDataFeed Blog

To get an idea of the type of content to expect, be sure to read the latest post: Maximizing Comparison Shopping Site Marketing. It’s a great article full of tips to help merchants or pros effectively use CSE strategies. It’s a must read for anyone in the current CSE space.

Lin Grosman, Marketing/Integration, Answers 10 Questions About GoDataFeed:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

GoDataFeed’s software engineers and marketing specialists have developed ecommerce solutions for online businesses since 2000. Responding to the popularity of comparison shopping channels, GoDataFeed’s team combined its collective knowledge of best ecommerce and shopping channel marketing practices to create a single, user-friendly application to manage the product feed process.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

‘All of the above’ GoDataFeed data feed management service automates, optimizes and analyzes product data feeds to more than 40 comparison engines and affiliate networks:

• Automation: The software simplifies and automates the data feed management process through FTP updates as well as automatic integration for Yahoo! Stores, ShopSite, Volusion (5.0) stores, and AmeriCommerce.
• Optimization: Merchants can optimize their product feeds through built-in categorization and feed validation tools that help them make their product data more accurate and complete.
• Analytics: GoDataFeed’s analytics module helps merchants track product-level and engine performance, which helps determine best-performing shopping channels for their store.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

GoDataFeed supports more than 40 comparison shopping sites and affiliate networks including:

Amazon.com, Become.com, BuyersEdge, Ciao.com, FindGift.com, Gifts.com, Like.com, NexTag.com, Oodle.com, MyCoupons.com, PriceComparison.com, PriceforSure.com, PriceGrabber.com, PriceLeap.com, PriceRunner.com, PriceWatch.com, Pronto.com, Shop.com, Shopping.com, Shopzilla.com, Smarter.com, Sortprice.com, Streetprices.com, Yahoo Shopping, Google Product Search, MSN Live Product, TheFind.com, Dealio, Share-A-Sale, Commission Junction and Performics.

We also provide custom feeds for merchants who submit to specialty sites, such as wine specialty sites, gourmet and affiliate sites, etc.

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

We cater to retail clients, hosting firms companies and search engine optimization and search engine marketing firms. Some of our clients include: StuffedAnimals.com, Puppet.com, CoffeeCakes.com, FootwearEtc.com, AffiliateTraction, Lexiconn Internet Services, WebDex Media Group.

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

Data feed management firms should give merchants the right tools to make their product information as accurate and complete as possible prior to submission to shopping engines, tools like feed validation and built-in categorization and customization options.

Data feed management firms should inform and educate merchants — through a transparent process– about the steps involved in optimizing and submitting their products to multiple shopping sites, acting as merchant advocates, and keeping them abreast of industry developments.

Shopping feed software should:

• Automate the data feed management process
• Optimize product information for each individual engine
• Monitor shopping site and product performance

Data feed management firms should provide responsive, unlimited support — GoDataFeed provides unparalleled turnaround time with support requests, live help with feed setups and live chat — all in an effort to simplify the feed management process, get their stores up and running and save merchants time and resources.

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

The biggest mistake merchants can make is to look for “set it and forget it” or cookie-cutter solutions—merchants should be involved in the process of preparing their product data, as they know their product information best, and monitor their performance on the shopping sites.

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

Each shopping site has its own data feed template, system and resources. We think the most commonly overlooked aspect–which can have the biggest impact– is merchants not tailoring feed campaigns to each shopping site and taking advantage of each shopping sites’ resources—i.e. account manager assistance, shopping site user review programs and shopping site optimization tips.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

The comparison shopping world is definitely becoming more social as shoppers are not only buying, but researching products and looking for ratings, reviews and user experiences. In addition, we think that more shopping sites will adopt a Cost-per-Action model—which is popular with many merchants.

What goals do you hope to accomplish and where do you see your firm heading in the next 1-3 years?

Our goal is promote a “Power to the Merchant” movement that empowers merchants and SEO firms to understand and take control of their data feed management to unlimited engines—at an affordable rate. We have just launched GoDataFeed’s v2.0—which has an extremely user-friendly interface and appeals to many users, making it easy to customize feed campaigns to more than 40 shopping sites. We aim to grow our business by helping merchants grow theirs.

What is the single best performing comparison shopping engine you currently support? Who earns the most revenue on average for your merchants?

It is impossible to generalize on the best performing comparison shopping engine, because each store and industry are different and perform differently on the shopping sites—however, the most popular shopping sites we currently support are Google Base, Shopzilla, Yahoo! Shopping, PriceGrabber and Jellyfish—now known as CashBack.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Lin: Wow Lin, thanks so much for taking the time and effort to participate in our QandA style interview about GoDataFeed. I really appreciate all the thought and information that went into your responses, well done. I love the fact that you are all about empowering the merchant for success, it can be easily overlooked in this fast paced industry. My favorite part, that is so true, is about the commonly overlooked aspects. You hit the nail on the head by stating, “merchants not tailoring feed campaigns to each shopping site and taking advantage of each shopping sites’ resources.” I can’t count the times I’ve worked with businesses who fail to utilize ALL their resources. The rating and reviews are the biggest, as you said. Optimization of feeds is also a big one. Thanks again Lin. I hope you continue to drop by. Please don’t hesitate to send us updates about your service so we can all stay informed about the progress GoDataFeed is making!!

To our readers: Well, that pretty much wraps up our latest data feed company interview. I hope you all enjoyed our time with Lin Grosman from GoDataFeed. It always amazes me to see how companies such as this are revolutionizing the CSE industry. I hope it was as informative for all of you as it was for me. If you liked this article and interview, be sure and subscribe to our articles feed or email updates, that way we can send newly published articles directly to you. If you just can’t wait for more like this, and haven’t already, you may also want to check out some of our past ecommerce interviews.

GoDataFeed is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

FeedPerfect, a Solid Cactus company, offers professional comparison shopping engine and data feed solutions to eCommerce sellers interested in getting their product information imported, optimized and published within popular shopping portals and destinations. FeedPerfect’s data feed solutions are designed with ease of use and efficiency in mind. Merchants who use FeedPerfect are able to utilize all of the categorization methods and data requirements for each CSE directly from the merchant application dashboard. Once store products are imported into the app., a variety of tools can be used to mass categorize product groups, pre-validate product data and automatically submit products directly into each supported shopping engine.

In addition, FeedPerfect takes the process a step further by providing useful tools to help merchants optimize their individual data feeds, track product performance and analyze product and engine statistics, making it much easier to adjust data or make changes to improve performance.

FeedPerfect Comparison Shopping Solutions Overview:

• Import – FeedPerfect’s global database will give you the tools to mass categorize groups of products saving you A LOT of time.
• Publish – FeedPerfect will automatically submit products on the schedule you determine to ensure your products’ data remains up-to-date.
• Analyze – FeedPerfect’s analytics provides merchants with powerful decision making tools and the ability to act on these decisions right inside of the application.
• Optimize – FeedPerfect allows you to review product performance across multiple channels and optimize each feed for maximum performance.

FeedPerfect Benefits:

• Completely Web-based Application
• Detailed Analytics Tools
• Easy To Use, Comes Supported
• Feature Rich Interface
• Validation And Categorization
• 17 Major CSE’s Supported

Try FeedPerfect FREE For 30 Days:

FeedPerfect offers a complimentary 30 day trial of their professional comparison shopping engine solutions. Visit the FeedPerfect homepage and fill out the brief form on the right to sign-up for your FREE 30 day trial of their popular data feed application.

FeedPerfect Pricing:

• Starter – 1 Store, 1,000 Products, 3 Engines, $89/month
• Professional – 1 Store, 20,000 Products, All Engines, $179/month
• Enterprise – 4 Stores, 100,000 Products, All Engines, $279/month

About Solid Cactus:

Solid Cactus, a total e-commerce solutions provider, has designed or redesigned more than 2,500 e-commerce sites using the Yahoo! Store platform. Our team of world-class designers and experienced programmers know what makes e-commerce sites successful and strive for excellence in each project we undertake.

Kurt Illian, Solid Cactus, Answers 10 Questions About FeedPerfect:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

After working with online merchants everyday since 2001, we saw the need for a product to help them manage their feeds early on. We originally had a simple feed service that allowed merchants to send their products to each of the engines from one centralized place. As time went on we realized our customers were blindly sending feeds to the engines without watching their spend or optimizing their data feeds accordingly. Basically we saw a lot of customers wasting money. We decided to meet this need by introducing FeedPerfect in early 2007.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

FeedPerfect provides one centralized location to manage products available to be sent to the Comparison Shopping Engines. We then provide a way for the merchant to select which engine they would like to advertise in, as well as a walk-through simplified setup wizard. Not only will you find the ability to select which products you would like to advertise but also a comprehensive list of the different categories available within the engine. Once the feed has been sent out to the engine, FeedPerfect provides analytics to track the conversion down to the product level allowing the merchant to take action (change or remove that product from a feed) from one interface without having to learn each engine’s unique admin.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

• Google Product Search
• Price Grabber
• Shopping.com
• Shopzilla
• Yahoo! Shopping
• MySimon
• NexTag
• Smarter
• PriceLeap
• PriceSaving
• Jellyfish
• Become.com
• StreetPrices.com
• Live.com
• SortPrice
• Pronto.com
• Amazon Product Ads

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

We have a large variety of customers ranging from small “Mom and Pop” companies with small advertising budgets who are only advertising in a few engines, to large e-commerce businesses with a dedicated marketing manager watching the spend on a daily basis. FeedPerfect also caters to agencies with multiple accounts/stores by making it possible to manage their customers from one easy-to-use interface.

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

Time and money. We’ve seen too many merchants simply set up their feeds and “walk away.” Your CSE advertising is an important part of your business. If you are not going to take the time to manage it properly, you should look for a solution that can help. Find a solution that will save you time through the automation of data feeds, and money by telling you where your money is being spent. If that is still too much for you, consider using a firm to manage your CSE feeds for you.

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

I have found some merchants simply send their products to the engine and never take time to look at the data. Many people send their products to Google Product Search but are not aware of which items are performing well. In fact, many of them do not even have access to such valuable statistics. This is a great way to test new product offerings in the world of Comparison Shopping Engines, and at the same time provide valuable statistics to use across other advertising channels.

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

People often overlook how much data they are providing a CSE. Conventional wisdom says the more a customer is informed (by product information), the easier the sale. The CSEs have required fields, but not many people look beyond those fields and populate the fields that are optional. Consider updating your feeds to include as much information as possible.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

Technology changes everyday so the possibilities are endless. With social media being so new I can see more CSE adding in social components into their engines allowing shoppers to communicate with each other. One trend that we have noticed is larger e-commerce stores are starting to compete in CSEs which is making it harder for smaller merchants to compete.

What goals do you hope to accomplish and where do you see your firm heading in the next 1-3 years?

We continue to add more CSE’s into FeedPerfect. More importantly, however, we are adding new tools that will make it easier to manage your data feeds and see which products are producing the best results, and which items are not producing desirable results for your bottom line.

What is the single best performing comparison shopping engine you currently support? Who earns the most revenue on average for your merchants?

Due to the various demographics that each merchant targets, it varies across each store. However, one feed that continues to not only have the best ROI (since it’s free), but drives traffic and sales, is Google Product Search. The sales many of our merchants get from Google Product Search compare to other CSE’s that you are paying for. Outside of Google Product Search, our merchants have been able to find success within all of the engines we support, depending on the merchants target demographic.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Kurt: I want to personally express my thanks for your participation in the QandA Kurt. I appreciate the time, thought and effort that went into your answers, such detailed responses! I love the fact that you’ve put so much emphasis on technology and tools to make everything so simple and easy. You hit the nail on the head by stating, “some merchants simply send their products to the engine and never take time to look at the data.” I find this to be true in nearly one in five people I discuss current CSE strategy with. Analyzing performance and drilling content down to the product level is so overlooked it’s not even funny. Glad you brought it up and reinforced that it is NOT OK! Again, thank you for taking the time to participate. Love what you’re doing with FeedPerfect and at Solid Cactus, it seems like you’ve got a quality team. Keep up the good work.

To our readers: It’s great to get this kind of information directly from the professionals, isn’t it? I hope you all enjoyed this, and past interviews, as much as I have. We’re almost out of data feed providers to interview, so it won’t be long now before we begin some new QandA series’ and expand on some we’ve already begun conducting. If you liked this structure and the interview content, be sure you subscribe to our articles feed or email updates, that way we can send newly published articles directly to you.

FeedPerfect is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

ShopWiki is one of the most creative, intuitive concepts I have ever seen spun from the comparison shopping engine business model. Their crawler based CSE is smart, powerful and capable of including products from nearly every merchant seller online (given the site is crawler friendly). ShopWiki is also currently the most recognized shopping engine in existence that utilizes the power of user generated content through their built-in wiki platform.

ShopWiki was originally founded by two ex-DoubleClick execs, Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman, and Eliot Horowitz in 2005. Since launch, ShopWiki has continued on their goal to find and index every possible offer by a merchant that can be purchased online. ShopWiki is an advanced shopping crawler, product engine, wiki or gift guide, social community and much more. They currently even offer user submitted shopping video content and product reviews.

ShopWiki is the ultimate shopping search engine, combining powerful Web-crawling technology with wiki buying and gift guides. ShopWiki doesn’t sell any products and doesn’t charge retailers to include their products in your search results.

ShopWiki’s Overlooked Blog:

• Official ShopWiki Blog

The ShopWiki Overlooked Blog gives the people behind the ShopWiki concept a new place where they can share daily product finds, sites and other unusual offers from around the Web with users. Anyone interested in finding new creative products and merchant shops from industry professionals who know their stuff should certainly save and tune in to the Overlooked Blog by ShopWiki.

ShopWiki Mobile Search:

• Official ShopWiki Mobile

ShopWiki also offers a mobile version of their comparison shopping search. As far as I know, they were one of the first CSE’s to release a mobile version of their product shopping engine and have certainly gained many more users by offering their technology and tools through mobile devices. Now shoppers can find and buy their favorite products “on the go” with ShopWiki’s official mobile shopping site.

James Keating Answers 10 Questions About ShopWiki:

Roughly how many merchants are included within ShopWiki?

ShopWiki.com includes products from over 200,000 merchants in the US, plus another 50,0000 in the international markets we’re entering, such as the UK (ShopWiki.co.uk), Australia (ShopWiki.com.au), and even France (ShopWiki.fr).

ShopWiki.com crawls ecommerce stores to actively pull in products from any store we find on the Internet. This is very different than a typical shopping comparison engine which waits for a merchant to send them a data feed. We will present products from merchants even if they don’t opt in for premier placement, which makes it the most comprehensive shopping search engine on the web.

Roughly how many products are included within ShopWiki?

There are over 250 million offers in ShopWiki.com!

Roughly how many individuals currently work on ShopWiki support and coding teams?

There are 7 people writing code at ShopWiki.com, and since we use crawlers, there is minimal need for support, with two people available for merchants to work with. The automation and self service we designed in from the beginning makes it possible to run ShopWiki.com with a modest size team. As we expand into more countries, we will bring on staff with native language skills for those markets. We even manage to squeeze in some fun with our blog (blog.shopwiki.com) to comment on the wonderful diversity of product ideas and ponder their potential usage.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

We have done co-branded shopping solutions for MensHealth, and have been speaking with several other sites about working together. As those distribution deals are launched, we will announce them.

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features ShopWiki offers it’s users?

The completeness of shopping search is ShopWiki.com’s core strength. Our shopping search engine will find anything and everything for sale on the Internet. We also make sifting through all of those options a breeze by using natural language in our search, such as “burnt orange strapless dress for under $100″.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features ShopWiki offers merchants?

Ease of participation: We’re probably already crawling your site, so include us in your CPA affiliate program, and we will do all the rest to give you preferred placement in the search results.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

Every week we make improvements to the site and the infrastructure, some major, some minor. All updates are aimed at improving our ability to find stores with new features, better layouts for shoppers, etc. to make it easier for visitors to find the products at the stores they know and discover stores they didn’t know. We also continuously improve the crawling technology to find more stores and more products.

How does ShopWiki plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Due to the nature of our crawling technology, we can easily foresee having greater selection than Amazon, and become the de-facto standard to start shopping.

Where do you see ShopWiki in the next 3-5 years?

ShopWiki.com has been designed from the ground up to roll out to just any country in the world, especially smaller countries that would have a hard time supporting a traditional shopping comparison engine relying on data feeds. You’ll see our presence in the US increase, as well as establish a global presence. Any country with even a modest ecommerce market is prime for ShopWiki.com to help shoppers and merchants come together.

What Online product marketplaces, other than ShopWiki, do you personally use to shop from?

Of course, Amazon is a favorite of mine, and I enjoy reading shopper’s opinions on stores at Reseller Ratings before I try a new store. Epinions has been a treasure trove of product information, to which I’ve even contributed.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To James: I would like to personally express my thanks for your participation in this interview style QandA, despite your demanding schedule and responsibilities. Myself and our readers sure appreciate the detailed thought and effort you have put into each of your answers, allowing for all of us to get to know your CSE a bit better. I like the fact that you have started with your goal and stuck to it over the years by building up your crawler technology to the point it’s at now. I love the crawler approach as opposed to the “submission of data” model. It’s great that merchants can get products included within ShopWiki without paying or going through the trouble of generating and submitting a data feed. Another wise move, in my opinion, has been your recent jump into the international shopping-scape. Hopefully that continues to help you grow beyond expectations!! Thanks again James, and please don’t hesitiate to send us any feature releases, updates or announcements in the future.

To our readers: I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading our most recent comparison shopping engine (CSE) QandA with James from ShopWiki.com. I have several more interviews in the works with other comparison engines, data feed companies and top 100 retailers in the future. You may also wish to read back in the archives at some of the ecommerce interviews we have already conducted.

ShopWiki is Featured as one of the comparison shopping wikis on our Product Listing Guide!

Awhile back we kicked off a new interview series with top comparison shopping engine and data feed management companies in an effort to introduce our readers to some of the industry players and to inform merchants about the types of services offered by the different providers. This interview is roughly the fourth CSE services one we’ve conducted and I am happy to report that it appears as though we’ve got a few more in store due to be released within the month.

CPC Strategy is a provider of comparison shopping engine and data feed marketing services for merchants interested in leveraging the power of online shopping engines in an effort to increase shopper, buyer and brand awareness in the world of online retail. CPC Strategy’s solution is meant to take an individual approach to CSE selling taking into consideration that different sellers may have separate goals when it comes to marketing through comparison shopping.

CPC Strategy Comparison Shopping Solution Overview:

CPC Strategy understands that each merchant is different and has unique goals for their Comparison Shopping Campaigns. We strive to work with each of our clients individually to ensure that we fully understand and meet your expectations.

A few of the data feed services offered by CPC Strategy include adding custom product attributes, optimizing individual data feeds, automation of data feed submission, proper feed categorization and even micro-management of each campaign. The overall goal of CPC Strategy is to boost merchant ROI by lowering costs associated with CSE marketing and by increasing shopper conversion rates.

CPC Strategy Data Feed Service Details:

Data Feed Optimization

CPC Strategy will create, optimize, and manage data feeds in an effort to take advantage of the individual unique opportunities offered by each of the most popular comparison shopping engines.

Automatic Data Feed Submission

CPC Strategy will automatically upload the most recent data feed as a way to ensure that each CSE will have access to the most recent, up-to-date and accurate information for the entire product line or catalog.

Product Level Bidding

CPC Strategy will use their precise in-house ROI tracking system to determine and help estimate the most appropriate bids for the entire product line or catalog.

Custom Attributes

CPC Strategy will add any custom attributes to merchant data feeds in an effort to increase product relevancy and shopper conversion rates for the entire product line or catalog.

CPC Strategy Case Studies:

• Online Diamond Merchants (PDF Format)

A competitive analysis of diamond merchants and their experiences with marketing on comparison shopping engines.

• Garden Decor Merchants (PDF Format)

A competitive analysis of garden decor merchants and their experiences with marketing on comparison shopping engines.

• Hand Bag Merchants (PDF Format)

A competitive analysis of hand bag merchants and their experiences with marketing on comparison shopping engines.

CPC Strategy Blog:

• Official CPC Strategy Blog

CPC Strategy now has an official blog. Some of the blog topics include topics ranging from product bidding, click fraud, tracking and landing pages to specific engines such as Google Base, Shopping.com and more.

We strive to provide busy merchants with a Comparison Shopping Campaign Management Solution freeing them to focus on the day to day intricacies of running their own business.

Rick Backus, VP New Accounts, Answers 10 Questions About CPC Strategy:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

CPC Strategy was founded in January 2007 by former employees of the comparison shopping engines. We saw firsthand how merchants were struggling to manage their spend and achieve their target ROI. It was frustrating seeing merchants making the same mistakes repeatedly again without even realizing what they were doing wrong. The lack of uniformity between CSEs makes managing multiple campaigns in-house very difficult and thus ineffective for most merchants.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

We do all of the above as we are a true Full Service Data Feed Management Solution. We provide each merchant with an ftp for data feed updates and then we take care of the rest.

New feeds are generated based on the specifications of each CSE, and our system is set-up for daily deliveries and to track the results. A weekly report is also sent out to each merchant which breaks down ROI at the product level for each CSE Campaign.

In terms of specialty services, we pride ourselves on keeping up with the constantly evolving algorithms of each CSE via regular A/B testing. This helps us in understanding what each engine is looking for and enables us to manipulate our client’s data feeds accordingly.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

If the engine accepts a data feed, we can work with them. A few examples include Pricegrabber, Shopzilla, Google Product Search, etc.

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

We’ll let our merchants speak for themselves: http://www.cpcstrategy.com/testimonials.html

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

Merchants should understand the difference between companies that provide data feed submission tools and full service firms which handle all aspects of data feed management. There are plenty of excellent tools that help merchants manage their own campaigns in-house but we are not one of them. Our goal is to provide our clients a comparison shopping management solution that frees them to focus on the day to day intricacies of running their own business.

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

Underestimating the time and resources needed to build successful long term campaigns. CSEs are not like those rotisserie grills that you see advertised on late night TV, in which you can simply “set it and forget it.”

They also tend to overestimate the similarities between comparison shopping and traditional PPC. While the two share certain similarities, there exists many differences between the two, and requires true niche experts within the field to run effective campaigns.

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

A/B testing! Should you alter your titles and descriptions? Should you implement a price floor and/or price ceiling? Should you run all or some of your inventory?

Data feed management is often times more art than it is science, and different merchants may yield different results–even among those within the same industry–so experimentation is a must. Without A/B testing you’ll never truly know what the right marketing mix is for your products on the CSEs.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

We believe that as time goes on CSEs are going to be thought of as less of a stand-alone destination and more as part of an integrated buying experience.

As it stands, a consumer making a purchase must first research a product, decide on a make and model, as well as where/how to buy it. We believe that in the future CSEs consolidate the buying process, allowing the consumer to make a decision without having to first visit a stand-alone destination.

Social networking will also have a major impact in comparison shopping, as applications are currently available for people to learn the buying habits of their friends, and receive recommendations via that route. Facebook already has an application that has reached the million user mark that attempts to recommend its users products that they may be interested in.

What goals do you hope to accomplish and where do you see your firm heading in the next 1-3 years?

Hopefully we will stay true to our roots and stay focused on comparison shopping exclusively. Most of our competitors were SEO or PPC agencies that decided to offer a comparison shopping branch to their host of services. As far as I know, we are the only full service firm that focuses exclusively on comparison shopping and I think gives us a competitive advantage.

Also hopefully our new blog – http://blog.cpcstrategy.com – will be as popular as yours

What is the single best performing comparison shopping engine you currently support? Who earns the most revenue on average for your merchants?

It’s very hard to make a generalization like this. Performances will range considerably for different types of merchants depending on the engines, and each use different metrics to measure “success”, whether it be on profit margins, or total exposure, etc.

That being said, Nextag has been converting pretty well lately.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Rick: First, terribly sorry for any delays in getting your interview answers published Rick!! I am extremely grateful for your contribution and for you taking the time to provide such detailed, informative, entertaining answers for our readers. The thing I like most about your company and mission is the fact that CPC Strategy was started by ex-CSE employees who saw a need that wasn’t necessarily being fulfilled by competing comparison shopping engine service providers. It shows that your company representatives really do care about the success of your clients and that there is real passion behind the services you offer. It’s a pleasure to advocate for such a firm and quite refreshing to see in this world of “passion for greed” providers. On a side note, glad to see you guys went the blog route, looks like your authors are off to a tremendous start, so keep that up! I look forward to working with you again in the future on more project collaborations such as this interview and wish you a successful future as a leading CSE service provider.

To our readers: We hope you’ve all enjoyed this interview with Rick Backus about CPC Strategy’s data feed and comparison shopping engine services. Remember, we conduct interviews like this one and similar topics on a regular basis so be sure to grab our articles feed or subscribe to email updates so you’re never out of the eCommerce news loop. If you enjoyed this interview you may wish to read additional QandA’s we’ve conducted by visiting our eCommerce interviews category. Thanks again for tuning in everyone, see you next time.

CPC Strategy is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

Channel Intelligence Comparison Shopping Services Overview:

Channel Intelligence uses proprietary technology blended with years of industry experience to offer a level of service sought out by some of the biggest brands in eCommerce. CI uses a variety of data services that make up their CommerceIQ technology including AttributeIQ, CategoryIQ, FeedIQ, ImageIQ, ItemNameIQ, KeywordIQ, ModelIQ, TaxonomyIQ, UnificationIQ and UPCIQ. Each of the separate intelligent data services is used to generate and provide the most meaningful and complete information about each product and is then distributed throughout the CI supported comparison shopping engines.

Through our patented and patent-pending technologies, we automatically find and group like products together in our database by understanding and interpreting various naming conventions, categorizing each and every product into our Universal Type-based categories and harvesting essential search variables such as attributes and keywords. This optimized product data can be sent and received in all the commonly used formats, integrating seamlessly with existing channels and offering greater possibilities to marketers and publishers.

Steven Roth, VP of Strategic Consulting, Answers 10 Questions:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

We entered this market in April 2004 at the request of clients that were struggling to get timely data feeds from their IT departments. Since then our services have evolved into full marketing consulting and product optimization services.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

We provide everything mentioned. From a data perspective we provide enhanced product-level optimization services to help ensure retailers’ products are complete, accurate and properly placed on each shopping engine. These services include automated product-level categorization customized for each shopping engine, harvesting of attributes and keywords, and matching of product identifiers between the product catalogs of a retailer and each shopping engine.

You can see more about the data technology platform behind our services here:

http://www.channelintelligence.com/commerceiq.html

We also provide an option that lets a retailer outsource management of all aspects of their shopping engine activities, from strategic consulting to the management of the legal and financial relationships with the engines. Our services are customized to the unique needs of each client and leverage our unique expertise in this very complex and constantly changing marketing channel.

Our day-to-day management includes analyzing trends for each client and the industry in general and taking action that may include adjusting bids, suppressing products or highlighting promotions. We offer complete transparency in these activities through regular client reviews and detailed reports that drill down to the category, brand, product and order level.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

We work with over 50 destinations including all major and upcoming shopping engines, online marketplaces, affiliate networks and others.

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

We have more top-ranked retailers using our service for shopping engine management than any other provider in the industry today. Currently we have over 100 retailers using our SellCast Services including Target, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, Spiegel, Circuit City, Coldwater Creek, Overstock.com, ShopNBC, West Marine, OfficeMax, Drs Foster & Smith, Skechers, eToys Direct, Northern Tool + Equipment, Smart Bargains, BenchMark Brands, Teleflora, Casual Male and ICE.com.

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

When shopping for a feed generation or management firm, it’s helpful to look at the type of clients a provider works with to help assure a good fit. For example, a typical client at CI is ranked among the Internet Retailer Top 500 online retailers and is committed to profitably growing sales in this marketing channel. Merchants choose Channel Intelligence because of our unique combination of technology and expertise within this marketing channel. There are many low-cost tools from other vendors that smaller retailers can use, but we pride ourselves on providing excellent service and results to the leading online retailers.

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

Underestimating the time and effort it takes to make this marketing channel succeed. Our services and technology solutions are much more scalable than a single retailer could develop on its own, which makes our solutions more cost effective with a shorter ramp-up time.

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

Good, accurate and complete product data. Techniques like bidding and product suppressions are useful, but only after all products are accurately displayed and placed for optimal performance. It is only after this is achieved that business decisions can be made to fine tune the results on the shopping engines.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

We definitely expect to see the best-known shopping engines maintain their presence and hopefully start to become more innovative again. The smaller shopping engines like Jellyfish and Like.com are driving innovation in this industry, which is creating a more compelling user experience and delivering qualified consumers to merchants.

We’ve already started to see specialization of shopping engines by vertical (HealthPricer, CNET, Builders Square, etc.) and target audience (“green” sites, social networking sites, etc.), and this trend will continue. We’re also seeing the product listings on the shopping engines being distributed to thousands of “mini-shopping engines” that are appearing on sites that include FaceBook, review sites and blogs.

As this marketing channel becomes increasingly complex, Channel Intelligence is leading the industry in innovations that include tracking sales from each distributed listing and supporting all of the emerging shopping engines.

What goals do you hope to accomplish and where do you see your firm heading in the next 1-3 years?

Our specialization in the shopping engine niche has already been expanded to include paid search, mobile marketing, online rebates and our own CI Ad Network. These services share a patented data optimization platform that will allow Channel Intelligence to continue growing the services offered to our clients – while still maintaining the excellent customer services that our clients have come to expect.

What is the single best performing comparison shopping engine you currently support? Who earns the most revenue on average for your merchants?

Each client has a unique set of goals, so “best performing” could be measured by traffic, sales, profitability, return on ad spend or any number of other success metrics. The “best performing” shopping engine for a client is the one that delivers on its goals, and the best engine for one client could be the worst engine for another. The key is to first identify how success is measured, and then to customize a marketing plan for this channel that is focused on achieving those success metrics.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Steven: I really appreciate all the time and effort you spent writing and providing these answers to us Steven. I can tell by the passion in your words that you really do care about your customers, company, services and the industry, which are all extremely important in my opinion. It was an absolute pleasure learning more about CI’s data feed services from you and I hope that this isn’t the last time we are able to collaborate on a project. It’s funny to see how the answers one person provides differ from the next. I thought you did a superb job on your responses, spot on. My favorite was probably the very last response you provided in regards to the “best performing” engines. Your answer is so right, I’m surprised others fail to realize the importance of their own unique situation rather than comparing their situation to other sites or competitors and how they perform.

To our readers: Well, I for one hope you all enjoyed reading our latest eCommerce interview with Steven Roth of Channel Intelligence. It was fun for me, I really enjoy these write-ups and it’s that much more enjoyable when I get to conduct them with some of the companies I am a major fan of, like CI. If you enjoyed this interview, you may consider visiting our interviews category which features several from all across the industry. Or, you can always subscribe to our RSS feed and we’ll deliver the news and interviews to you each time a new article is published. Until next time.

Channel Intelligence is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

ChannelBrain Comparison Shopping Services Overview:

ChannelBrain currently offers three different levels within their data feed marketing solutions. There is no need to install or download additional software in order to use the service. Instead, all the data feed tools are offered within an easy to use, simple to understand web-based application and software. In short, ChannelBrain’s services help merchants to automate, measure and optimize all their Online channel marketing campaigns.

ChannelBrain Service Level Details:

Standard Package

Cost: $59
Engines: 4
Products: 10,000
Support: Yes
API: No
Back Office: No
Analytics: Yes

Basic Package

Cost: $99
Engines: 8
Products: 10,000
Support: Yes
API: No
Back Office: No
Analytics: Yes

Pro Package

Cost: $199
Engines: Unlimited
Products: Unlimited
Support: Yes
API: Yes
Back Office: Yes
Analytics: Yes

View the ChannelBrain Brochure (PDF Format)

ChannelBrain User Forums:

• Official ChannelBrain Forums

The ChannelBrain user forums cover topics ranging from how-to’s and announcements to tips and information about supported engines. Right now the user-base doesn’t seem to be that large, however there are some good posts about the system in there like setup and starting out topics.

ChannelBrain Blog:

• Official ChannelBrain Blog

ChannelBrain also has a blog, where those interested in finding out more, or receiving updates on ChannelBrain, and the CSE industry, can go to learn about insider happenings. The blog archives go back to March 2007, and although it appears as though it hasn’t been updated recently, I checked it out and there is some really good information about their services and views on the industry on it. Be sure to drop by and take a peak when visiting the site.

Gary MacDougall, CEO, Answers 10 Questions About ChannelBrain:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

Our existing customers were requesting feed output from our shopping cart system. We also so a great need to simplify this process as there were (at the time) no affordable solutions on the market that brought all the facets of channel marketing into one package.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

We provide feed generation, tracking and reporting and optimization / management. We also provide integration tools for back-office and shopping cart systems to further ease the process. We support shopping carts like Yahoo Merchant and back-office systems like Mail Order Manager.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

We support 13 at the moment, but we add new ones periodically.

• Google Products
• Yahoo Shopping
• PriceGrabber
• PriceRunner
• Gifts.com
• TheFind
• MSN Live
• Become.com
• BuyersEdge
• Pronto
• Shopping.com
• Shopzilla
• Smarter.com
• Nextag

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

We have about 50 or so customers using the product.

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

Does the company understand the model and is just not selling a “tool”. Lot’s of factors about CSE marketing are not just about getting the data-feed in, there’s a lot a of things that need to be done to be able to understand how to optimize the feed to improve its performance.

Not a lot of tool providers care about that, they focus on the ability to get the feed up to the engine, and thats it.

Choosing a provider that cares about conversions is something that the customers overlook. They look at the cost of the product, pick the cheapest and really get what they pay for.

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

Not understanding how to measure. Just syndicating your inventory and not being able to optimize or improve your ROI is one of the biggest mistakes merchants make. Choosing a good tool to help you do this is probably one of the most important parts of the process.

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

The increased natural link exposure that your products will get. Many of the CSE’s will advertise your links / products to various places that are typically going to help with improving your sites natural search exposure. For example, Shopping.com will syndicate links to your products in Google, this is considered more “back links” to your site, which can improve your organic search results of your site.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

Broken. Sadly, I think that the CSE’s have gotten a little greedy in that they are not keeping up with technology and focusing far too much on clicks and costs per click vs. trying to provide a valuable service to the visitors of their site. When you look at the landscape, its changing rapidly as Google Base / Products has really leveled a lot of the playing field and made it hard to compete in the space for shoppers. The bottom line, customers are getting “savvy” in that they know if they search for a product, the first couple links are “paid”.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Gary: I just wanted to express how appreciative I am that you were able to participate in this QandA! I am a big time advocate of the services you offer and it’s always great to get introduced and find out more about some of the best ones, such as you offer. I am truly sorry for any hick-ups along the way, like email issues or lost question answers, I am not sure what happened there, but really glad that despite all that, we were still able to get it done and posted. Please don’t hesitiate to drop by and comment or fill us all in on anything new going on at ChannelBrain, or Freeportway. Thanks so much for the quality answers and for getting them back as quickly as you did. Look forward to watching your service blossom and grow.

To our readers: I hope everyone enjoyed reading our latest CSE data feed services interview with Gary from ChannelBrain. I have personally learned so much from these QandA’s, it’s been really fun. I look forward to conducting many more in the future, so be sure to let me know if there’s anything missing in them that you’d like to see in future interviews. As always, if you would like to read past interviews I have posted, simply visit the eCommerce Interviews category on our sidebar. If you’d prefer to subscribe, we offer a full articles feed, email updates and RSS for the interviews category only. Just copy and paste any of those URLs into your favorite feed reader. Thanks for your loyal readership everyone, your the reason I do all this and without our readers, it wouldn’t be nearly as special as it has been!

ChannelBrain is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

DoubleClick Performics is the search engine and affiliate marketing division of DoubleClick Inc. (recently acquired by Google) Performics is based out of Chicago while the international headquarters of DoubleClick are in New York. The company and subsidiaries feature a host of digital marketing and technology services ranging from affiliate marketing, SEM, data feed solutions and consulting to proprietary tracking or reporting technologies, account management and much more to add to their years of industry expertise.

DoubleClick currently services many of the world’s top marketing, publishing and agency brands including About.com, PriceGrabber, Vegas.com, Ford, Friendster and MTV. Performics also serves as a valued resource for top brands such as iRobot, Pottery Barn, United Airlines and many hundreds more to add to their years of expertise.

Here’s what Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, had to say about the DoubleClick acquisition…

We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed. With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users.

(I’ll save comments on all that for another article and topic in the future)

DoubleClick Performics Comparison Shopping Solution Overview:

DoubleClick Performics uses a proprietary feed automation platform to build, optimize, and submit your product catalog. Rapid implementation places power back in the marketer’s hands to better control messaging, promote in-stock items and react to seasonal demands.

DoubleClick CSE Solution Allows Merchants To…

• Upload product data via email or FTP site
• Automatically validate and report errors
• Exclude certain products from select partner feeds

In addition, DoubleClick Performics will distribute your feed across 18 of the top comparison shopping engines and much more.

Performics Blog:

• Official Performics Blog

For updates, news and articles on Performics solutions be sure to visit the official DoubleClick Performics blog. While you’re there, make sure you subscribe to their feed, that way you never miss out on upcoming news or announcements. Performics blog categories include affiliate marketing, emerging opportunities, product features, search marketing and system maintenance.

DoubleClick Blog:

• Official DoubleClick Blog

For more information and updated announcements be sure to check out the DoubleClick blog. They have categories covering all their individual products and solutions including topics on creativity and innovation, industry commentary, news and events, research and tips.

Stuart Larkins, VP of Search, Answers 10 Questions About Performics:

What made you decide to get into the feed generation or management business originally? How long have you been servicing merchants, vendors and Online sellers?

DoubleClick Performics was founded as Dynamic Trade, an affiliate marketing company, in 1998 and launched comprehensive search engine marketing services in 2001.

DoubleClick Performics takes a thinking forward approach to performance marketing for 300 of the world’s top brands. With the right blend of insight, technological investment and response-oriented marketing plans we engage and deliver more consumers for our clients.

What are your specific service specialties? Do you currently provide feed generation, distribution, tracking, management or all of the above?

DoubleClick Performics serves clients with three primary performance marketing solutions: affiliate, search and digital consulting. Its affiliate marketing solutions provide advertisers and publishers large and small with industry-leading technology, superior customer service and exceptional support. The firm’s comprehensive search offering pairs consumer engagement expertise with technical innovation to empower advertisers to think forward about search engine marketing; marketers utilize these industry leading services for a wide range of programs, including integrated search, paid search, natural search, local search, comparison shopping and paid inclusion.

Our comparison shopping solution distributes single feeds to multiple sites, facilitating quick and simultaneous updates across properties. DoubleClick Performics manages programs for more than 100 clients across 13 comparison shopping engines. Our experts utilize advanced technology to enhance program development through a proven methodology.

What comparison shopping engines are supported by your service? Which engines do you work with?

DoubleClick Performics manages client data feeds with comparison shopping engines, Web publishers and participants in the company’s affiliate network, some of which include:

Google, Yahoo!, MSN, BizRate, NexTag, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber, Smarter.com, Gifts.com, Findgift.com, Become.com, Pronto, and PriceRunner.

Who are some of the merchants that currently use you as a feed generation or management firm?

DoubleClick Performics’ data feed management technology helps power more than 100 current DoubleClick Performics data feed clients and offers online advertisers an opportunity to leverage online distribution, improve reach and ranking, and drive sales through search, shopping comparison and affiliate Web sites.

What factors should merchants consider when shopping for a feed generation or management firm?

When selecting a feed management firm, it is important to align with an agency that understands the merchant’s business goals and encompasses the following features:

• Proven expertise in the feed management space
• Scalable technology
• Dedicated account team
• Proprietary optimization methodology
• Strong partnerships with CSEs
• Understand and practice a holistic approach to digital marketing

In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake merchants make when venturing into the comparison shopping world?

Choosing the wrong partner is the biggest mistake merchants can make when venturing into the complex world of data feed marketing.

• Over-automation: Strong technology is only one element of data feeds; experienced practitioners are crucial to successful programs
• Underestimating the value of new-to-file customers; feeds provide the highest NTF rates
• Under-utilization of search, affiliate and other online marketing data to strengthen data feed program
• Too broad an ROI focus; merchants should closely manage ROI at the product level

In your opinion, what is the most commonly overlooked feed aspect, that makes the biggest difference with CSE’s?

Robust tracking and analysis drives more efficient programs. Using analytics to the fullest potential grants deep insight into why some products sold more effectively than others and creates opportunity for correction. DoubleClick Performics analyzes data down to the SKU level, and leverages search and affiliate data to optimize feeds. Knowing what you didn’t sell and why allows you to optimize and correct problems.

In your opinion, what will the comparison shopping-scape look like in the future? Replaced by traditional SE’s? Better than ever? Hardly used? More social? Anything?

As consumers become more sophisticated online and increase their use of comparison shopping engines, advertisers will allocate more resources and budget towards feeds. DoubleClick Performics has superior relationships with the top comparison shopping engines, enabling advertisers to expand reach, improve relevancy and cost effectively connect with more consumers. Through audits of current client initiatives, DoubleClick Performics also provides an understanding of the market landscape and potential opportunities within emerging media and offers strategy based on clients’ capabilities.

What goals do you hope to accomplish and where do you see your firm heading in the next 1-3 years?

DoubleClick Performics continues to strengthen and invest in its teams, technology, proprietary methodologies and strategic partnerships to deliver qualified consumers for clients. Emerging media, mobile, etc.

What is the single best performing comparison shopping engine you currently support? Who earns the most revenue on average for your merchants?

As a leader in the feeds, search and affiliate space, DoubleClick Performics works successfully with thousands of publishers and engines to earn optimal revenue for our advertisers.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Stuart: Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few QandA questions about DoubleClick Performics for our readers. I especially like your stand on empowering the merchant, keeping control in their hands (that is important to the point that they know everything that’s going on with their campaigns in order to properly track ROI). I am really relieved to see that you continue to reach out and inform potential clients about your services and that the recent acquisition hasn’t seemed to put any cramps in the way things are done at your company. I personally can’t wait to see some of the newer innovations a company like DoubleClick is capable of creating, it should certainly be a fun and exciting year in the comparison shopping space. Once again, thanks for taking the time to spread the word about your comparison shopping engine and data feed management solution. Please don’t hesitiate to send us any developments or news about feature releases or company happenings, I would love to work with you again in the future.

To our readers: I really hope all the readers out there have enjoyed this interview with VP of Search at DoubleClick Performics about their services. Keep in mind that we hope to eventually conduct more QandA type interviews like this with other data feed management and service companies. If you liked this interview be sure to check out the others in our interviews section and if you don’t want to miss out on any in the future, you can always subscribe to our articles feed or email updates, that way we can send the next one to you!

DoubleClick Performics is featured as one of the data feed companies on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

iStorez Personalized Shopping Overview:

Think of a glossy magazine featuring 1000s of current deals and trends directly from top brands and stores. Only this time it’s online, on-demand and one-click away from you. Think of a storefront as an extension of a retail store’s website. It is similar to the physical store window displays that you see as you walk through a mall. At iStorez, you can browse 1000s of storefronts from 100s of stores without ever leaving your warm chair and hot cup of coffee. And iStorez always presents the most relevant and newest storefronts based on what you are looking for.

With iStorez you can:

• Discover cool or trendy products
• Find the latest product releases or brands
• Shop from a wide variety of top stores
• Browse other shoppers’ personalized storefronts

Navigate your tabs to see the different store offers:

The iStorez tabs make it easy to browse the different store offers within your personalized storefront. Simply click from tab to tab and get instant offers from the stores you have chosen to include within your personalized shopping experience. Arrows to the left and right of the end tabs make it easy to navigate in either direction. High resolution graphics, new products, hottest offers and trendy brands are all part of the iStorez shopping service.

Enter search terms into the search bar or use tags:

Simply enter in words or phrases related to what you’re shopping for and get instant results from iStorez massive product, brand and store index. The results are very accurate, for instance I entered “shoes” as a search term and iStorez brought back results for Endless, Shoes.com, Nordstroms, Steve Madden, Shoemall, Puma, Zappos and more. The tags for “shoes” included leather, payless, styles, boots, sandals, fashion and more related to the original query term.

Browse by category or by store or brand:

Once you have created a custom shopping experience on iStorez, you can browse “your mall” by navigating your categories, stores, or tags. There is also an advanced search option to browse within your personalized storefront. Users can easy navigate between the store names, classification or even deeper through the use of personalized tagging. Easily search categories, sub-categories and alphabetically.

Creating Your Own Custom iStorez Storefront:

Some easy steps to help you create your iStorez storefront:

1. Sign in or Sign up to begin using iStorez
2. View the top right drop-down menu and select, “See all stores”
3. Click the “My Mall” menu and select “Manage My Mall”
4. A full list of available stores should appear organized into categories
5. Click any check boxes next to the stores that you shop at most and click Add
6. You have successfully created your personalized iStore storefront
7. View the top right drop-down again and select “See [username] stores” to refresh
8. Share your personalized shop with anyone (preview.istorez.com/m/stores/username)

Anand Jagannathan, CEO of Kriyari, Inc., Answers 10 Questions About iStorez:

How did the idea for iStorez come about originally? What’s your main mission?

The idea for iStorez came about when a mall-averse person like me found myself frustrated-to-death with online shopping. Why isn’t there an online equivalent to browsing through the shopping inserts in the Sunday newspaper? Why is it so hard to find out what’s really new and on sale? Email newsletters are great when I need them and can find them, but most of the time I don’t and I can’t. Having founded an e-mail marketing company previously, I thought to myself, how cool would it be if there was a way to intelligently collect, organize and search e-mail newsletters across hundreds of stores and brands? And along those lines, why not transform those newsletters into visual, impactful storefronts as well? And that was how iStorez was born.

Our mission? Simple. To introduce consumers to a brand new online shopping experience that’s just as fun as strolling through their personalized local mall!

How can shoppers benefit from using a site like iStorez?

iStorez combines a ‘patent in process’ storefront creation engine with Web 2.0 technologies to deliver continually fresh, timely and relevant content for shoppers. What that really means is shoppers no longer have to sign up for email newsletters to find out about promotions, or search their in-box for what’s new or hunt across the Internet for special coupons! An added plus is that many of our promotions are exclusive and not generally available on other sites. For those who read in bullets, iStorez gives you:

• Recency: only see what’s current, not last year’s trends and expired promotions
• Relevance: only see what you asked for, not thousands of product listings
• Personalization: only see content from your favorite stores, not everyone’s

What makes iStorez shopping experience different than a traditional comparison shopping engine?

Wow. A lot. For starters, it’s well known that comparison shopping engines (CSE) perform well for products with SKUs, like electronics, but rather poorly for soft goods like apparel, furniture, gifts, etc. This is because soft goods are less feature-based and you often want to know what’s in season or what’s hot, before making a purchase. CSEs, unfortunately, don’t have a strong notion of recency or seasonality. iStorez, on the other hand, focuses on making it easy for consumers to find out what’s new and what’s on sale across their favorite stores. It delivers a customized shopping experience that dynamically changes based on what a visitor to the site is looking for (e.g. handbags, iPod) or a season theme (e.g. valentines, spring fashions). No more looking through thousands of product listings of products you’re not really interested in!

What are some of the stores shoppers can expect to find within iStores?

You will find many popular favorites as well as niche stores in our network, like Coach, Burberry, Aeropostale, Nike, Puma, BabyCenter, Cole Haan, Aerosoles, Sony, The Apple Store and many more.

What are some of the useful features iStorez offers its users? Store partners?

iStorez users can:

• Build-a-mall: Select only the stores you like and build a personal shopping experience
• Share-a-mall: Share your mall with friends using an iStorez link that’s uniquely yours
• Tag storefronts: Tag products you like or even create a visual gift registry
• Search storefronts: Search the rich content by promotional theme (eg. Valentine’s), by product category (eg. women’s apparel), by product item (eg. handbags), by store (eg. Lancome) or term (eg. coupons, free shipping)

Store partners/retailers can:

• Target demographic groups: Advertise to the groups that are most likely to respond to your brand, eg. shopaholic SUSAN, wall street WILLIAM. (Edit by eCopt: I also built my own iStorez Storefront)
• Upload custom storefronts: Leverage our granular targeting to deliver different experiences to different shopper profiles, eg. male-targeted storefronts for male shoppers, etc.
• Get detailed reporting: Measure the effectiveness of your advertising real-time
• Get full-page advertising: Keep your merchandising message and advertise your brand in all its glory

In essence, retailers get a 3-in-1: the Branding of display advertising, the traffic of Search Marketing and the Conversion of e-mail marketing!

Can any store become a partner with iStorez? How can I include my store or products?

Yes, any store with an e-mail marketing program can partner with iStorez with zero effort on their part. Stores without an e-mail marketing program can also participate easily by leveraging the retailer tools that we have built. For more information on partnering with iStorez, please contact sales [at] kriyari [dot] com.

What future features can we look forward to seeing on iStorez? Anything in the works?

Lots. We are continually working towards our mission of making iStorez a shopping experience that’s just as fun (if not more!) than strolling through your local mall. Get on our newsletter list and we’ll keep you posted. Absolutely no spam.

Is there a way for me to network with other shoppers? See what they like?

Yes. Today, you can share your mall with friends and check theirs out to see what stores they shop at, what products they like and what tags they have added. We have some major initiatives to add to our social networking features as well as tie into the leading social networks!

How will a personalized shopping experience, such as iStorez, change the way consumers buy Online?

Well, consumers’ expectations are going to rise. They are going to expect to see store experiences that are relevant to them, not advertising. They are going to expect to see the latest and freshest content every time, not outdated trends and expired promotions. They are going to expect to get recommendations for new and interesting stores and brands based on their shopping preference. The level is definitely going to rise.

What are some of your favorite online stores? Which would you include in your iStorez profile?

Wow, that’s a tough one since it changes all the time. You can check out my current list (http://preview.istorez.com/m/stores/anandj), but then in a few weeks it can be different, and that’s the beauty. After I have bought my iPod and camera accessories, I don’t want to see electronic stores. Come to think of it, I better start looking for Valentine’s.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

It is so great to be able to preview and review new and innovative ideas like the newly launched iStorez personalized shopping service. I love it when someone sees a need for a particular product/service, or a need to make one better and creates a solution for it. In instances where this happens the solution is often times really beneficial since usually the idea is sparked from a passion or interest in the idea topic.

I see a lot of potential for a service like iStorez, it kind of blends high-resolution print or email ads, with deals, new items, promotions and trendy products within a social comparison shopping environment, very creative. I do have some recommendations for the layout, usability and some personal feature requests that I plan on sending through isTorez feedback form. I won’t be too picky since they only launched today and are probably still testing a lot of the main functions. If you have feedback, or just want to send iStorez your opinion, simply email feedback [at] istorez [dot] com or fill out their feedback form.

I can’t wait to see how iStorez’ launch goes and how they begin to improve their already useful shopping service in the future. I was really surprised by some of the stores who are already participating, there are many big names.

To Anand & iStorez Team: Thanks for the chance to get a sneak-peak trial run of iStorez guys, I think you have all done a wonderful job putting everything together in preparation for your beta launch today. Please congratulate your team and let them know to keep up the good work. Please don’t hesitate to keep us posted on upcoming iStorez improvements or feature releases, I would be happy to cover the service more in the future.

To our readers: I hope you all enjoyed this little interview style QandA with Anand from iStorez. Look for more eCommerce interviews like this one with other great shopping services, industry professionals and company founders. As always, you can subscribe directly to the interviews category feed or our main articles feed to get updates in real-time from any RSS feed reader. What are you waiting for, get feed already!

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.

The article format is still mostly QandA, but I wanted to give Stacks and Stacks some feedback about their site including personal thoughts, praise and my suggestions regarding the current state of StacksandStacks.com. My analysis and suggestions will remain in pro and con format, so before we get into the QandA part, lets take a look at what Stacks and Stacks is doing right and what things they could potentially be doing better.

Remember, the analysis I conducted is not an exhaustive one, or in depth, by any means. To really analyze a large Online retailer like this, it would take me weeks to discover and comment on everything I find. This analysis is meant to show readers some of the things Stacks and Stacks has done right and some of the things I recommend they consider looking into. Like before, I tried to keep checkout process recommendations out of the pros and cons sections, but I do look into the homepage, categories, subcategories, products and other store landing pages.

StacksandStacks.com Spotlighted Pros:

• Clean layout, pleasant graphics, nice colors and theme designed to convert shoppers
• Search bar that is easy to see, east to use and within reach for shoppers
• Phone number, live chat, cart contents, order tracking and catalog request appear above the fold
• Hacker Safe seal present on all pages, updated often and appears above the fold
• Free shipping offer for certain products or orders is great for customers and shoppers
• Unique personal organizer feature for customers or shoppers who need advice when organizing
• Pleasant holiday graphics and product banners to display popular, featured or seasonal items
• Best sellers and featured products appear on the home page, within reach and easy to see
• Easy to recognize category links appear on the sidebar and under featured items with targeted anchor text
• Green initiative for environmentally friendly products offered through the catalog, in store and online
• Site links such as about, affiliate, media etc appear in an east to see area with targeted anchor text
• Help links such as contact, order info, returns, shipping etc appear in an easy to see spot
• Offers multiple payment options and trust certificates and displays banners for customers and shoppers
• Offers product alerts and subscription options for customers and shoppers
• Breadcrumb navigation makes shopping and browsing easy, easy to see and easy to see where you are
• Content appears on category pages with targeted keywords, descriptions and information
• Easy to see subcategories appear above categories on category pages make browsing easier
• Catalog shows number of product available within each subcategory making shopping easier
• Favorite items section appears on category pages below the subcategories perfect for hot products
• eCommerce blog section featuring content, advice and articles to help customers and shoppers
• Utilizes user reviews and customer comments for products helps with conversion rates
• Detailed product pages with all the information needed to make an educated buying decision
• Add to cart buttons that stand out on product pages help to increase conversions and bring attention
• Click for more links on product pages make returning to the previous section quick and easy
• In stock notifications tell shoppers what’s available and what isn’t readily available to order
• Wish list, email to friend, print and why shop at Stacks links reinforce buying decisions
• Detailed product descriptions with technical specifications and information for purchases
• Clear product availability and shipping options for customers and shoppers
• Detailed user reviews for products with accompanying feedback or suggestions form
• Contests for submitting user reviews is great linkbait, engages shoppers and gives back

StacksandStacks.com Spotlighted Cons:

• Consider removing one ‘and’ from the main home page title and changing the other to ‘&’
• Consider redirecting www. or non-www. to one or the other through htaccess
• Consider removing the lengthy keyword lists from category headers and using navigation instead
• Consider adding anchor text links to category specific content paragraphs to popular items
• Consider adding more ‘outside the catalog’ content such as buying guides and more UGC
• Consider using video reviews and video specific content relating to favorite or popular items
• Consider adding more catalog subscription options such as email, RSS, bookmarks etc for products
• Consider bringing more attention to the mailing catalog, consider offering it for free with email
• Consider switching some of the light blue font to a color that is easier to read on white space
• Consider reworking/rewording title tags on product pages, subcats and most all pages, they need work
• Consider adding alt/title tags for catalog images, banners and seasonal graphics within the store
• Consider bringing more about the physical store location into the site, maybe a map or pictures
• Consider expansion of the blog section to engage more shoppers from your community
• Consider embedding related products into blog posts or adding a products widget to the blog

Mel Ronick, President, Spotlights StacksandStacks.com:

Tell us a bit of background information. How long have you been selling Online? Do you sell solely on the Net or do you also have a physical location or chain? What kind of items do you sell and what demographics do your average customers fit into?

We have been selling Online for 9 years. Currently, we have only one physical retail location. We sell over 19,000 storage, organization, and furnishing items for the home, office, and garden.

Did you build your own eCommerce site, hire a developer, use a program or other?

We hired a developer and worked closely with them on the design and functionality.

Do you currently deal with eCommerce marketing and product promotion efforts in-house, through a professional firm or other?

Most of our web marketing is outsourced; other portions are conducted in house.

Are you able to handle site maintenance, order fulfillment, customer service and marketing with a small team of one to ten employees or do you find that a larger staff helps to make the business run more smoothly? Is your team big or small?

A large volume ecommerce site needs full support to be successful. We have over 50 staff members.

What are some of the factors that have attributed to your success during your time in eCommerce?

Excellent customer service, wide assortment of products, great marketing, good site functionality.

What things have you tried in the past or currently that have NOT worked to your advantage that you originally thought would?

Comparison shopping engines.

What is the single most important thing you’ve learned about selling Online during your time in business?

It never gets easier!

In your opinion, what is the most important thing to remember when attempting to grow your Online business from one step to the next (meaning expand, scale, etc.)?

Only add expenses when you can monitor the return on investment.

What is the single most important thing shoppers and existing customers have come to expect while shopping with you? Customer service? Quick delivery time? Security? Lots of options? What makes you stand out in your niche?

All of the above have helped us stand out.

If you could give only one piece of advice to merchants who are just starting to sell Online, what would it be?

Anyone can build a great website; the trick is getting the eyeballs to it. Interview several SEO firms; and get many referrals from similar sized companies before signing on. You’ll need marketing help, but always remember that you must check the ROI on each initiative. All contracts and agreements must have a 30 day cancellation clause, don’t get locked in to a one year term.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

Another great example of an eCommerce site that’s doing things right! All in all, I can see why Stacks and Stacks is now one of the Hot 100 Retailers. They have followed eCommerce rules and best practices for several years, they shopped around for the right service providers or professionals, they measure and analyze everything, they take suggestions and feedback from customers and much more. I am stoked to see them making such good use of their blog section, Clutter Control Freak blog. Keep that up guys!

The biggest thing I noticed was how Stacks and Stacks currently structures their meta data, including page titles. None of them are organized, they look messy and it appears they haven’t been updated in years (chances are that their main search words may have changed over the years, more longtail). Other than that, there were a few things I would have them consider, however there are way more Pros than Cons with StacksandStacks.com.

To Mel and the StacksandStacks.com team:

Thanks so much for taking the time to participate in our Store Spotlight QandA Mel. I know you have worked really hard over the years, putting these things in place and taking measures to analyze and track your results. Those are some of the main ingredients for eCommerce success and you have been using them for years. By following some of my recommendations you can continue to stay ahead of the game, including competitors within your space. I was really impressed at the small and large best practices or rules that you have obviously found work for you, at least some (sorry to hear about your CSE experiment failing).

Please don’t hesitate to ask me for more detail regarding my recommendations for Stack and Stacks. i would be happy to go over any of it more in depth with you or some of your staff members. Understand, I could only invest a couple of hours in this analysis, however I would love to do more, let me know.

Thanks again Stacks and Stacks team!! Happy New Year, keep up the good work.

To our readers: Hopefully you continue to enjoy our Store Spotlights, specifically our latest one with StacksandStacks.com. If you are interested in getting more insights directly from some of the most successful Online sellers, simply subscribe to our RSS articles feed, email updates or the Store Spotlight category feed. The subscription page has even more ways to subscribe to content including our blog widget or Google gadget. Stay tuned for more articles with other Hot 100 eCommerce Sites.

This article is part of our blog series called Store Spotlight. The latest was with PlumberSurplus.com.

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.

eCopt Takes a Look at PlumberSurplus.com:

We were lucky enough to catch up with the folks over at PlumberSurplus.com to ask them a few questions about some of the things that got them on the Internet Retailers Hot 100 Sites list for 2008. The format for this article is mostly QandA, but before we get into that I wanted to share some thoughts, praise and suggestions about the current state of PlumberSurplus.com and provide some feedback for their team. One of the things that make these sites so successful is their desire to do better and their willingness to listen to professionals in the industry as to how they can continue to improve. Asking questions, getting feedback and continually testing what works and what doesn’t is a core part of successful Online sellers. Lets take a look at some of the things PlumberSurplus does right and a few things that, in my opinion, can be improved upon (in pro and con format).

Keep in mind that the analysis I conducted is not exhaustive or in depth by any means, it would take me weeks to plow through everything and give my recommendations. This analysis is meant to show readers some of the things PlubmerSurplus has done right and few things I recommend they consider looking into. I try to keep checkout process recommendations out of the pros and cons sections, but I do look into the homepage, categories, subcats, products and other landing pages.

PlumberSurplus.com Spotlighted Pros:

• Clean design, great color scheme, nice layout, splendid graphics
• Nice clean code, external stylesheets and js files make pages easier to crawl
• Categories, search function and other important navigation appears above the fold
• Hacker Safe seal to reassure shoppers that this site is secure and tested daily
• Phone number, cart contents, help and support links appear above the fold
• Seasonal banners and homepage graphics that rotate give a distinct look to the store
• Banners and graphics are visually appealing and feature real people using the products
• Featured, new and top products are above the fold and is easy for shoppers to use
• Nice related category box near the bottom of category and subcat pages
• Tons of product information, suggestions and promotional statements
• Unique copy that is designed to inform customers, not make the sale or sound “selly”
• Great product recommendations and clearance section makes it easy to see other items
• Categories and subcats are also near the bottom of each page for easy access
• Customer, company and policy information is easy to see and is organized accordingly
• Pictures that stand out, look unique and display product information are always good
• Great internal site navigation, linking structure and accessible pages
• Attractive, easy to see breadcrumbs, sorting and refinement options
• Quality descriptions, shopping and clearance banners make it easier to shop
• Nice 404 pages with links to important site sections and contact page

PlumberSurplus.com Spotlighted Cons:

• Consider limiting the homepage title tag to 60-70 characters or no more than 9 words
• Consider limiting meta description to 180-200 characters or no more than 25 words, sentence format
• Consider using meta keywords in lower case format, limiting them to no more than 45 words
• Consider bringing more attention to the learning center, bulk up the content there often
• Consider adding sorting and refinement options higher onto the homepage and category pages
• Consider moving the brand boxes above the products on category pages
• Consider adding a search by category or subcat refinement in the search bar area
• Consider putting add to cart buttons on category list pages rather than just products
• Consider bringing more attention to the order tracking feature to cut down on CS calls or live chats
• Consider adding the search bar and subcats to the content area on 404 pages

Zachary Applegate & Team Spotlight PlumberSurplus.com:

Tell us a bit of background information. How long have you been selling Online? Do you sell solely on the Net or do you also have a physical location or chain? What kind of items do you sell and what demographics do your average customers fit into?

We have been selling online since August of 2004. PlumberSurplus.com is a pure play online retailer offering tens of thousands of home improvement, plumbing and building products across many categories. These categories are expanding continuously with large product offerings of tools, lighting, furniture and anything related to home improvement. PlumberSurplus.com uses a drop ship supply network to deliver products, rather than carrying inventory. This model gives the company the ability to strategically position suppliers across the country, to insure a better customer experience. Our relationship with our suppliers is unique, we have created a partnership rather than a customer and vendor relationship. We each understand our core competencies and are able to focus on them. Our suppliers offer us a plethora of sku’s, and a relief from the burden of purchasing, warehousing and fulfillment in conjunction with competitive pricing. In turn, we offer our suppliers three key competencies: customer service, marketing, and all things ecommerce. Taking on the customer service burden means the supplier does not have to communicate with the end consumer during any step in the purchasing cycle, including returns.

We have also developed a highly successful marketing machine which provides sales from a new channel and customer. To make this relationship work we developed custom solutions for all things ecommerce to scale to a distributed inventory model, in order to do so a custom shopping cart, order processing system, front end and back end was built. These are all integrated across the supply network, as we grow we continue to massage these solutions to maintain scalability. Traditional distribution in our industry is based on territories for manufacturer’s representatives, wholesalers and plumbing contractors, none of which are concerned with the end user. Our customer is the do-it-yourselfer that traditional distribution is not reaching. It doesn’t make sense for traditional distribution channels to reach out to this customer, in the words of a PlumberSurplus.com founder “They would be stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.” Internet sales can pick up where these channels leave off. Offering the single project customer the breadth and depth of product on a single website that would traditionally only be found in showrooms and trade shows scattered across the nation.

Did you build your own eCommerce site, hire a developer, use a program or other?

PlumberSurplus.com was built in house. Early on we outsourced development but have since hired a development staff, so little development is done outside of PlumberSurplus.com at this point. As we grow and better understand our core competencies we have turned to third party solutions like Mercado and Live Person. Our approach is as simple as “Don’t reinvent the wheel, unless you have to…” We understand that Mercado is at the top of the industry in site search and merchandising and that Live Person is the leader in online interaction. Accepting this allows us to use their software to enhance our own custom solution and provide a better online experience.

Do you currently deal with eCommerce marketing and product promotion efforts in-house, through a professional firm or other?

We currently manage all marketing, product promotions and merchandising in-house. Marketing efforts include activities related to paid search, natural search, comparison shopping engines, affiliate networks and marketplaces, but we do use a third party for part of our bid management. Our promotions are done in house but usually stem from a partnership with our suppliers. Our unique relationship with our suppliers gives us the opportunity to recommend promotions to our suppliers and work on developing them together. Each party contributes to the promotions so that everyone benefits. One example of this is our current Google Checkout promotion. We are offering customers that checkout through Google Checkout entry into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a DeWALT tool. While we were the brains behind the promotion our supplier is providing the product as a gift and we are marketing the sweepstakes.

Are you able to handle site maintenance, order fulfillment, customer service and marketing with a small team of one to ten employees or do you find that a larger staff helps to make the business run more smoothly? Is your team big or small?

Our team is larger than ten but is proportionate to our growth. February of 06 over February of 07 we realized 350% growth. With that kind of growth in such a short amount of time, an increase in staffing was inevitable. While we do not have a large staff our staffing is tied to our volume, growth and strategic plans more so than the number of functions that need to be managed on a daily basis. With our staff at its current size and our current rate of growth we have found that we are able to perform all maintenance, marketing and customer service duties in house with the help of third party solutions like Live Person. However because we use a sophisticated drop ship model we have suppliers strategically placed throughout the country to fulfill our orders.

What are some of the factors that have attributed to your success during your time in eCommerce?

It may be cliché and may not make the highlights reel, but finding the right people and doing our best to give them the resources they need is key to our success. In the recruitment effort it has been important for us to remember that the most experienced, educated person isn’t always right for our company right now. The right person has been more important than the right resume.

With that being said PlumberSurplus.com is made up of ecommerce fans, people who love what they do and are surrounded by others that are equally as passionate. This type of attitude fosters dedication, talent and variety. This, combined with the leadership capabilities of our executives and their ability to drive and resource the company, all contribute to the success we have experienced. The culture is saturated with a drive to stay ahead of the curve while still being realistic about the future. We make small SEO changes that we know may not bear fruit for months, focus on optimization strategies that may seem minor but when combined can really add up. We are constantly reassessing our technology and methodologies and finding opportunities to improve.

As challenging as it can sometimes be in the moment… our success is also supported by passionate, energetic people with differing opinions and the resilience to work through them. Coupling this with humility and a willingness to submit makes for a highly effective working atmosphere. I would say we are still trying to create this picture in our office and may always be. None the less, traversing the path to this goal contributes hugely to our success.

What things have you tried in the past or currently that have NOT worked to your advantage that you originally thought would?

In our day to day research we came across Forrester data that said that a healthy percentage of consumers do not end up making their final purchase online because of fears about post transaction problems. In other words, customers want to be comfortable with the returns process. We decided that developing a 365 day returns policy was a good idea, for various reasons: easing customer uncertainties with a very liberal returns period, building customer loyalty and trust by giving consumers lots of time to mull over their buying decision, and increasing sales by creating a comfortable place to do business online without increasing returns by much. Although this seemed like a good idea at the time the numbers didn’t support the new policy and we found that customers did take advantage of the extended returns period. We have since had to roll back the 365 day returns program to do further research before making any additional changes to our returns policy.

This may be a lack of optimism on our part but over the last few years we have outgrown every building we have moved in to. Each time we move we sigh and think to ourselves this is plenty of space we should be able to stay here a while. About nine months later we sigh again as we look around the building and think about how we are bursting at the seems and a new solution needs to be found. Now that we have gone through this process a couple of times we have learned to better estimate space in association with our expansion as a company, especially as we make plans to move in to additional ecommerce spaces.

What is the single most important thing you’ve learned about selling Online during your time in business?

Selling online is hard. It isn’t just about having a good website and a good product. It’s not like the Field of Dreams, where if you build it they will come. There are a lot of well-funded competitors out there and you have to do a lot to stand out and get traffic. Things can change and opportunities arise with little more than a moments notice and being able to effectively handle the fast pace can really help or hinder a business. Selling online involves many of the same concepts of traditional retailing, using different tools and techniques. We need to remember not to get wrapped up in the tools and techniques, but rather to clearly understand how the tool or technique supports a proven retailing concept.

In your opinion, what is the most important thing to remember when attempting to grow your Online business from one step to the next (meaning expand, scale, etc.)?

If you’ve defined the next step and are attempting to grow to it, you must already have some sort of strategic plan that is tied to your vision and supported by your competencies. Assuming that is in place and of good quality, the most important thing to remember is resource availability and quality. You can never get to the next step without the application of resources. If you aren’t highly funded you may not have access to an abundance of high quality resources. You need to get creative and solve the resource issue before moving forward. You may also need to allow the availability of resources to help define your next step.

What is the single most important thing shoppers and existing customers have come to expect while shopping with you? Customer service? Quick delivery time? Security? Lots of options? What makes you stand out in your niche?

I think our customers have come to expect all of these things. Our customer service team is continually learning, growing and developing infrastructure to better equip our customers with the knowledge needed to make a purchasing decision. This is important in our industry as not every customer is familiar with the ins and outs of our product offering. Customers have come to expect that their products will be delivered in a timely manner; they often have contractors scheduled, installation plans, inspections of their projects and so on.

While many of our product lines vary in delivery times we try to be as accurate as possible on each product detail page when describing the lead time on a product. Given our business model it can be difficult to convey real time data to customers regarding delivery status. We offset this by integrating our UPS account with our suppliers and we make sure that the products ordered by the consumer are shipped from the nearest warehouse thus cutting down on delivery times. Right now we can ship the majority of our products the same day or the next day. The HackerSafe seal by ScanAlert has become a staple for insuring security to consumers. We have seen an increase in conversions where the seal is displayed, we believe that this is backed by the fact that security is extremely important to our customers. We want to insure that our customers are assured of their security in whatever way we can.

Our product offering is not only one of the things that has become most important to our customers but it is one of the things that makes us stand out against our competition. Breadth and depth of product is one of our core competencies; you will be hard pressed to find retailers in our space that carry the product offering that we do on one site. We believe this benefits our customers, especially for those who are doing a project or complete remodel. Instead of jumping from site to site and going through multiple checkouts these customers can check out with all of the products needed to complete their project on PlumberSurplus.com.

If you could give only one piece of advice to merchants who are just starting to sell Online, what would it be?

Try to start planning, not just working, from day one. You will change, scrap, and laugh at many plans you make, but by the time you actually need a plan, you will know how your business works and how to make one.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

It’s easy to see why PlumberSurplus is a Hot 100 Retailer, they pay attention to details, they listen to feedback, they test their pages and they have spent many man hours making sure their eCommerce site uses the top recommended best practices for selling Online. From what I can see, it’s no accident that they have become so successful, rather it is a direct reflection of their desire to be the best at what they do. Not only that, but by reading their answers you can tell they are passionate about their products, business and employees which are all ingredients for eCommerce success.

I look forward to seeing where PlumberSurplus takes their business in the next 2 to 3 years and as the eCommerce space continues to change. Obviously, they spend a ton of time researching and analyzing their processes, but that can only take you so far. They also do a wonderful job of implementing new features, new tools and great content to help their shoppers have the experience they desire while shopping on PlumberSurplus.com.

To Zach and the PlumberSurplus.com team: Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to participate and fill out our QandA questions. You have one of the cleanest, nicest looking designed sites I have seen in a long time, with nearly all of the proper elements in place. All of the time, effort and money you have invested has gone to great use and I believe that’s a direct reflection of your management and other team members. You should all pat yourselves on the back for such a quality job well done. Please don’t hesitate to ask me for more detail on my recommendations, I would be happy to advise where I am needed.

To our readers: Hopefully you enjoyed our first ever Store Spotlight with the PlumberSurplus.com team. If you are interested in getting more insights directly from some of the most successful Online sellers, simply subscribe to our main articles feed, email updates or the Store Spotlight category feed. The subscription page has even more options to choose from including our gadget or widget. We will continue to post these articles with other Hot 100 eCommerce Sites.

This article is part of our blog series called Store Spotlight. This is the first post in the series. We hope to get ALL the top retailers to participate.

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).

Google Base is a content destination marketplace where users can upload and submit all kinds of their content to be published on several Google services, including Google Product Search and their Onebox results, for products. Google Base users can describe their content through attributes, which help Google to display relevant results when related searches are performed across Google Search and other services.

Google Base is considered to be one of the most popular product classifieds or listing sites in the World and continues to improve their services, tools and documentation in an effort to achieve their vision of making eCommerce, as a whole, faster and more convenient for both buyers and sellers. One of the best things about Base is that it’s FREE and easy for content providers to use. Google also accepts multiple forms of content uploads including Web form, XML, PDF, Microsoft Excel, Text, HTML, Rich Text Format or Word. Currently, Base is only available in English and German interfaces, but is expected to expand in the future.

Official Google Base & Product Search Blog:

• Official blog… http://googlebase.blogspot.com/

The Google Base Blog is where I personally go for the latest updates, news, feature releases and team commentary. It’s a great place to see how Base and Product Search have evolved, including back when Froogle was the official Google product search brand. Data feeds and the world of comparison shopping are always changing, many don’t realize how important it is to stay current on all engine requirements, attribute announcements and other related information that affects how your feeds as a whole or even individual product listings perform. It’s a good idea to subscribe to the blog feed, if you haven’t already.

Google Base & Product Search Help Sections:

• About Base section… http://base.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=59260&hl=en

Another great place to find out more detailed information about Google Base is their official about section. It’s basically a portal style page that organizes all the different sections that contain helpful information for webmasters, merchants and even shoppers interested in learning more about Google Base. The main about Base page contains a brief rundown and links of what Base is, frequently asked questions, screenshots and even some interesting quick facts including cost, reach, how to submit and what makes Base unique.

• About Product Search section… http://www.google.com/products/intl/en_us/about.html

The Google Base about, help and discussion sections all have information related to Google Product Search as well, but there is also an official about section with more Product Search specifics (it is mostly how users are directed to Base from Product Search, but still has good information). The Product Search about page basically covers what it is and gives users more answers to frequently asked questions such as how to include your items and information about the sponsored results.

• Help center… http://base.google.com/support/

For specific information and help with Google Base uploading, technical information and specifications I prefer their thorough and well documented help center. The help center features useful information and links to detail pages of Base topics including help for getting started, managing your account, how to create or post items and even how to troubleshoot common Base issues. There is also some information about Base and Product Search results pages and links directly to the top 5 Base questions.

• Help discussion… http://groups.google.com/group/base-help-discussion

In addition to the Base blog, about pages, help center and FAQ sections, there is one additional place I go for information and help. The Google Base Group has been in existence for quite some time now and the discussion topics cover anything and everything you could possibly want to ask about or discuss with other Base users. Google Base’s Help Group categories include discussions about common roadblocks, the basics, submitting data, search results, user ideas and even Google Base and Checkout usage chat.

Cynthia Kwon Answers 10 Questions About Google Base:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Google Base?

The number of merchants is continuously changing, so it’s hard to say exactly how many are in Google Base.

Roughly how many products are included within Google Base?

This number is changing all of the time, so it’s hard to say exactly how many products are included in Google Base.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on Google Base support and coding teams?

As a matter of policy, Google doesn’t disclose team sizes.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

We know most Google users start their searches from the Google.com homepage. We provide merchant and product information directly in those search results. We also provide merchant and product information in Google Product Search (www.google.com/products).

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Google Base offers it’s users?

Google Base is a service designed for content providers, but it benefits users. Google Base gives content providers a free and easy way to make all kinds of content — from real estate information, to job listings, to recipes — searchable on Google.com. All of this information improves the overall quality and breadth of Google Search results for our users, and it helps them connect with the specific information they are looking for.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Google Base offers merchants?

Google Base helps merchants expose their products to Google users. It enables content owners to describe and assign attributes to the information they upload, and then Google uses this meta-data to better target search results to what users are looking for.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

As with other Google products, we are continuously innovating and adding new features to Google Base.

How does Google Base plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Google wants to make e-commerce, as a whole, faster and more convenient for buyers and for sellers. This means helping buyers throughout the entire process – from searching for products, to finding the most specific items on the web and submitted through Google Base, and then giving them the option to buy in a secure and trusted way through Google Checkout.

Where do you see Google Base in the next 3-5 years?

Google’s goal is to connect users to the most relevant information, whether it’s online or offline information. While we can’t project what will happen in the future, Google Base has been an important part of that process.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Google Base, do you personally use to shop from?

eBay and Amazon and a select number of other merchants but I always start first with Google.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Cynthia: Thanks so much for taking the time to participate in our QandA Cynthia! I am glad to see Google playing such an active role in reaching out and taking time to inform their users about specific products or services like Base and Product Search. Some things I really like about these search products are how simplistic to use they are (for merchants or shoppers) and, of course, that you can list items on either for free. I can’t wait until things evolve a little more with some of the technology and other similar services like Google Checkout, it will be interesting for me to see how Google blends them all together in their efforts to organize eCommerce. Again, thanks for the insights you have provided our readers and myself, please don’t hesitiate to reach out to us again in the future, I would love to continue spreading the word about Google Base and Product Search services.

About Cynthia Kwon: Currently, Cynthia is a part of the Strategic Partner Development team at Google. She heads up the partnership efforts for Google Base and the product search initiative. Her mission is to work with leading retail and technology companies in order to provide the best product search experience for Google users.

Prior to Google, Cynthia was an investment associate at Focus Ventures, an expansion stage venture capital firm. During her tenure, she helped lead the investment efforts for the enterprise software and security sectors. In addition, Cynthia has held posts in both marketing and business development for a number of Silicon Valley start-up companies.

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Science from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

To Meghan: In a way, completing this interview makes me sad Meg, now that it is all wrapped up I don’t get to bug you anymore! Seriously though, thanks so much for all you did to make this QandA with Cynthia happen for eCommerce Optimization. Really, without you I don’t think I would be writing this right now and I certainly wouldn’t be as close to completing my over 100 CSE interviews as this one makes me. I am sorry for bugging you all those times and I really appreciate you updating me along the way, it makes me happy to see that sometimes Google doesn’t forget about the B-list bloggers. Thanks again Meg. If there’s ever anything I can do for you in return, don’t hesitiate to ask me.

To our readers: I hope you all enjoyed this interview with Cynthia Kwon about Google Base and Product Search. If you feel like thanking her for participating, please leave her a comment and let Base know what you think. There’s also a feedback form, if you would rather do it that way. If this is the first eCommerce Optimization interview you have read, be sure to check out all the others in our interviews section. If you liked this interview and don’t want to miss out on the next one, you should subscribe to our articles feed or email updates, that way we can send the content to you!

Google Base is Featured as one of the product classifieds sites on our Product Listing Guide!
Google Product Search is Featured as one of the comparison engines on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

Become.com Blog – Pocket Change:

• Official blog… http://www.become.com/pocketchange/

Looks like the blog posting has been light as of late (according to a post on it now), but I expect they will refocus their attention back to it again soon. They are probably trying to get their new theme and features in place and as we all know, those tasks alone could take up all of your time. So, cut them a break on the blog and try to review it later, once they have picked up the posting schedule again.

Become.com Help Section:

Become also features a short but sweet help section to introduce shoppers (or merchants) to their seperate pages and how to get the most out of each of them. Become features three main types of results pages; research results, multiple product results (comparisons) and single product results.

Follow the bullet links for help with each…

• Product, Merchant or Brand Research Results

• Comparison Shopping Results – Multiple Products

• Comparison Shopping Results – Single Product

Jon Glick Answers 10 Questions About Become.com:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Become.com?

5,000

Roughly how many products are included within Become.com?

25 million

Roughly how many individuals currently work on Become.com support and coding teams?

30

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

Become has numerous syndication partners including WashingtonPost.com and BillMeLater.

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Become.com offers it’s users?

Become offers the best integration of comparison shopping, product-focused web search (5.6 billion pages!), and user generated content. Our goal is to give users the most complete product information source so that they can make the best buying decisions.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Become.com offers merchants?

Become offers merchants both CPC bidding and reporting at the SKU level, and every account has an assigned Account Manager to help them when needed. Become’s research features mean that merchants receive exceptionally-qualified traffic, since users have done their research and are further along the buying cycle.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

New features are being added every few weeks. This past year (’07) has included: user reviews, social shopping, gift/wish list creation, optional ROI tracking, free logo display for merchants, FastFeed (sub-1hr. updates for merchant feeds), sort-by-color, expanded attribute filters…..the list goes on.

How does Become.com plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Become offers a unique combination of information that goes beyond just price comparison; everything from web search, and shopping community to local store availability. Become is also innovating at a much faster rate than some of these more established sites. Amazon Marketplace is actually one of our partners (we count them as 1 of our 5,000 merchants), and eBay focuses on a different set of goods and user transactions. We see both of these companies as more partners than competitors and this market has proven its ability to support multiple shopping experiences that serve users and merchants in different ways.

Where do you see Become.com in the next 3-5 years?

Become grew 300% from ’06 to ’07 and is profitable. We see strong growth continuing, with IPO potential in the next several years.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Become.com, do you personally use to shop from?

I don’t really need any site but Become….heck, with 25MM products… Seriously though, I use eBay for that hard-to-find used stuff. I also am a big fan of Amazon, but use Become.com to see their listings alongside lots of other merchants.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

The love the fact that I get to review all of these CSE’s and, in a way, get to compare product comparison engines (if that makes sense). It always intrigues me to see what features and tools each one uses to separate themselves from the rest and the different business models of each of the CSE’s. Become.com is a great place to shop and find information about the products you want to buy. I discovered some new things about Become and reviewed some of the old stuff too, but certainly learned a lot I didn’t know. I can’t wait to see them bring it all together and hope it isn’t long before they make the rest of their site flow with the new color scheme and logo. If you haven’t used Become before, you should give it a whirl next time you shop or perform product research, you won’t be disappointed. My favorite feature is their ‘no surprise’ pricing, with shipping, tax and any other fees listed before you even make a buying decision.

To Jon: Thanks so much for the participation Jon. I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing your shopping portal and getting to know a little bit more about Become.com. I think you and your team are doing a great job and can’t wait to see what’s next for you in the comparison shopping space. Let me know about my speculation about the new logo and theme? I am wondering if it is going to stick around or not? Hopefully so, it’s really nice looking so far. Keep the social and user orientated features coming, shoppers love them. Please feel free to drop us a line anytime you are announcing new features or need help spreading the word about Become.com news! Thanks again for the thoughtful answers to my interview questions.

To our readers: We have many more of these CSE interviews planned for the near future. Many are already in the works, so check back regularly as we post them every few days/weeks. As i have stated before on past interview, you can subscribe to our articles Web feed or enter your email address to get updates sent to you. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Jon Glick of Become.com.

Note From eCopt: I received an update from Jon regarding my additional questions about Become.com social shopping features and their new look...

This launch gave us the opportunity to add social aspects in addition to our comparison shopping and product-focused web search. We plan on expanding all of these in the coming year (so lots more social features are on the way). Become.com’s focus is on shopping, so the social features are ones that help people to have more fun and shop more effectively; we’re not looking to be a social network for the sake of being a social network al la MySpace/Facebook. The new logo is in keeping with the shopping focus. When we developed the “gold ring” logo we were more of a search technology company. Our business has evolved, so we figured it was time to update the logo accordingly.

Become.com is Featured as one of the comparison shopping engines on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

TheFind.com Blog:

TheFind’s blog features regularly posted content about shopping and fashion, including news surrounding TheFind shopping search. From the blog you can view popular style guides, featured finds, hot picks and more. It also features the regular blog archives, tag cloud, blogroll, recent posts, a search feature and, of course, RSS or email subscriptions. TheFind recently announced the addition of noted fashion journalist Merle Ginsberg who is launching a weekly blog exclusively for TheFind.com consumers called “The Click.” Merle’s new blog will cover the latest trends in shopping across multiple genres including fashion, beauty and home.

Check Out TheFind Blog & Subscribe to their Feed!!

TheFind.com Hot Searches:

TheFind features regular updates to their hot searches page and even includes them on the homepage so shoppers can see what’s hot right now and what shoppers are searching for on TheFind. I think this is a great feature for them to concentrate on, it works for gift ideas, purchase ideas and even allows you to discover new items. Many CSE’s use hot searches, but very few use them right. I think TheFind is one of the few that does hot searches right.

Check Out ALL of TheFind’s Hot Searches!!

Siva Kumar Answers 10 Questions About TheFind.com:

Roughly how many merchants are included within TheFind.com?

Over 500,000 merchants that service the US market are currently included for searches done on TheFind.com. As your readers may know, our technology is different from that of the comparison engines in that we have crawlers that spider merchants’ web sites to index all of the products that are for sale. We also accept data feeds and process feeds from all of the feed service providers like Channel Adviser, Channel Intelligence, Mercent, Merchant Advantage, SingleFeed and others.

Roughly how many products are included within TheFind.com?

Our search engine indexes more products from more sellers than any other shopping search site. At present, our index is nearly 190,000,000 products from the 500,0000 merchants for the US market. We are in the middle of upgrading our crawl and extraction infrastructure and I expect that the number of products indexed to grow significantly in the next few weeks. These 190 million are all items that are available for sale in US dollars and shippable to US locations. Our algorithms automatically exclude from this number any adult products, prescription drugs and such items that are not family friendly.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on TheFind.com support and coding teams?

We are still a small company and number less than 30 people in total. Much of the staff is engaged in development and testing of our search engine.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

We cover all areas of shopping search including the computers and electronics categories typically emphasized by the comparison engines. Consumers will find our search experience is especially well suited for the fast growing lifestyle goods categories including clothing and accessories, home and garden, sports and outdoor, kids and family, and health and beauty. At present our efforts just focus on merchants that sell products for the US market (accept US dollars and ship to the US).

In addition to www.TheFind.com, we also have specialized sites to reach vertical or horizontal slices of shopping. For example, www.TheFindGreen.com helps consumers who are eco-conscious find just green products from “green” stores and “green” brands. In addition, http://paypal.thefind.com enables PayPal account holders to look for items to buy from any of the 80,000 or so merchants that accept PayPal.

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features TheFind.com offers it’s users?

TheFind is the first shopping search engine built from the ground up to help consumers find whatever they are looking to buy from all the places that sell that item. This is a simple proposition but technically so complex that none of the comparison engines have been able to do this so far. Our technology makes this difficult task into something that consumers will find really easy to use. In a nutshell, we want to combine the art and science of shopping into our powerful little search engine so that TheFind.com could be the first and last place that online shoppers need to go to start shopping.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features TheFind.com offers merchants?

We have a unique business model compared to the other companies engaged in shopping search in that we do not charge merchants a click fee to list their products unlike every other comparison shopping site. All listings on TheFind are free to merchants and we actively crawl merchants’ web sites so that even data feeds are not necessary. We want to provide true and objective relevancy to the consumer by ranking the results based on the merchants carrying the most matching products and this helps merchants that specialize in certain categories to show up higher in relevance when searches are done in these categories.

Merchants can make use of some of our innovative marketing channels like our Mouse-over Banner to advertise to the targeted consumers looking for things to buy. We also have sponsored results spots, clearly marked as such, that appear above the search results – these are also advertising sold on a CPC basis to merchants.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

We are continually adding new and visible capabilities to TheFind.com that are aimed at helping consumers search and shop better. Invisibly we also continually improving the number of merchants and products we index and the search quality algorithms.

How does TheFind.com plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

TheFind.com does not compete with Amazon and eBay in that we are not an e-commerce site and do not sell products. In fact our search results include all of the products from Amazon and from eBay so that consumers don’t have to wonder about what these companies have for sale that matches what they may be looking for. Our goal is to be the best resource for consumers to help them find what they are looking for from all of the online stores selling them. In this sense, we more directly displace the consumers’ use of Web search engines to start off shopping searches. The experience in using a general purpose Web search engine is very time consuming and inefficient for a shopper and this is what we aim to change.

Where do you see TheFind.com in the next 3-5 years?

TheFind.com will be a year-old at the end of October. We have a major upgrade of our engine underway before the start of the shopping season that will deliver our site in a “production” solution as part of the anniversary celebration. In three to five years we hope to have established ourselves as the best place to start people’s online shopping and the preferred search destination for shopping on the Web.

What Online product marketplaces, other than TheFind.com, do you personally use to shop from?

TheFind.com is of course not an online marketplace but a search engine for shopping and I typically always start my shopping from TheFind.com. Stores that I buy things from online vary from the large ones like Amazon and Nordstrom to smaller specialty stores and marketplaces like eBay.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

I urge anyone who is not yet familiar with TheFind to quickly become familiar and take some time to at least see what they have to offer. My bet is you won’t be disappointed, whether you are shopping for a product you love or you are a merchant trying to get listed in a top-notch comparison shopping engine. The features, platform, tools and strategic partnerships make TheFind a great choice for both shoppers and eTailers. Two things I like most are that they are crawler based (meaning they use a web-based crawler like Google to find products) and they have put tons of time, money and resources into their company in order to provide the most accurate, up-to-date, feature rich shopping destination they could. In case you couldn’t tell, TheFind is a winner all around in my book!

To Siva: I thoroughly enjoyed reading your responses and getting to know your company a little more. I truly appreciate all the time and thought that went into your responses to the interview questions we provided and appreciate your participation more than you could imagine. It gives me great pleasure to report on things I love and it is so darn fun too. Please don’t hesitate to keep us in the loop about future happening at TheFind. I would love to help spread the word more in the future about any new features, tools or releases. Keep up the quality work and let your team know how much we all appreciate their efforts.

To our readers: I hope you enjoyed reading this QandA with Siva from TheFind. I plan on doing several more interviews with other comparison shopping engine founders, marketers and employees in the future along with the ones we have already conducted. If you haven’t already, be sure to grab our articles feed so you don’t miss any of our upcoming CSE and product listing site interviews!

TheFind.com is Featured as one of the comparison shopping engines on our Product Listing Guide!

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.

Note from eCopt: We have updated this interview with thumbnail screenshots and more information from Like.com on many of the questions. If you haven't read it before, you won't want to miss it now! If you have already read this interview, the first 7 questions have been updated so check em' out.

Like.com & Riya

Riya was founded in August 2004 and has assembled one of the largest visual computing research teams in the world. Its mission is to simplify search and ecommerce by harnessing the latest breakthroughs in visual computing. It has almost one dozen patents pending in the areas of visual recognition and search. Riya has raised $19.5 million from venture and private equity investors, including Bay Partners, BlueRun Ventures, and Leapfrog Ventures.

Like.com Also Has A Couple Blogs:

• Their official blog… http://blog.like.com (was down last I looked)
• CEO’s blog… http://munjal.typepad.com

Like.com Likeness Technology Includes:

• Likeness Search
• Like Detail
• Like Color
• Like Celebrity
• Like Upload

Read more about Like.com Technology in the interview below.

Beth Kirsch Answers 10 Questions About Like.com:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Like.com?

Like.com is the first true visual search engine, where the contents of photos are used to search and retrieve similar items.

We believe that there are literally millions of items that are difficult to describe via text-based search and where individual tastes are all over the map — think of your favorite pair of earrings or shoes and what an ordeal it can be to find something new but in a similar style.

Our initial launch focuses on handbags, jewelry, shoes, and watches – allowing users to search and purchase items from thousands of leading and boutique brands. We have over 2000 merchants ranging from high end merchants such as Saks Fifth Avenue to lower end merchants that are still everyone’s favorites such as Target.

Roughly how many products are included within Like.com?

We have 5 million soft good products on the site.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on the Like.com support and coding teams?

We have a total of 24 employees.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

Our core technology is the ability to look inside a photo. We have a product called LikeSense we are testing right now that lets us look at the clothes in a photo and show similar items. Here is a great article about it from Tech Crunch…

Tech Crunch Article: RockYou Integrates Like.com Image Search Into Slideshows

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Like.com offers it’s users?

Sometimes words are enough to find what you want on the web and sometimes they are not enough. If you are looking for a detail on a shoe, the pattern on a shirt, or the cut of a dress, the design on a rug, words don’t let you find what you are looking for and we answer that challenge with the ability to search inside a photo. Below are examples of this problem and our solutions…

Key features of Like.com include:

• Likeness Searchâ„¢ – the ability to search by image instead of text;
• Like Detailâ„¢ – finds items that have a specific feature you like (such as a buckle, straps, bezel, etc);
• Like Colorâ„¢ – find color variants of the item you desire;
• Like Celebrityâ„¢ – find clothing, shoes and accessories similar to those worn by your favorite celebrities

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Like.com offers merchants?

We help merchants showcase the fine details of their products to consumers which makes us stand out from the crowd in the Comparison Shopping Space. And we have been told from merchants that our leads convert very well because we help users zero in on the fine details of a product they are looking to purchase. Merchants get high quality leads and SKU level reporting.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

We add new features around once a month.

How does Like.com plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

We have ground breaking technology that is a barrier to entry to other companies mimicking our core user value proposition.

Where do you see Like.com in the next 3-5 years?

We are here to build a company that is our focus. We will clearly be going strong and I’m sure out of beta by that time.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Like.com, do you personally use to shop from?

Well, of course, I use like.com for all softgoods. And, for consumer electronics, I usually check all of the Gen 1 shopping comparison engines. Each are very different products and have different merchants.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

I personally find that Like.com is a great place to shop and compare products, especially if you consider yourself a visual learner or very visual person. The technology that powers Like.com is top-notch and continues to improve. I can’t wait to see the additional category expansions that are due for the future and the addition of new merchants or brands into their CSE. I think Like.com has a very creative business model and team of staff who truly care about Online shopping and what consumers want to shop for. If you haven’t used Like.com yourself, I recommend you give it a whirl, you’ll surely be amazed at the technology and user platform.

To Beth: Thanks so much for participating in this interview and for providing us with the informative answers about your visual shopping engine, Like.com. I really appreciate the support and participation, and look forward to more in the future from Like.com. Feel free to update us on future releases, new technology and anything we can help you spread the word about. I discovered a lot about Like.com that i didn’t already know, it’s amazing how much i learn from these interviews, all CSE’s are different in their own ways. Good luck in the future, keep up the quality work.

To our readers: We have many more interviews like this planned for the future. Some of them are even already in the works, so check back often as we have been posting them every few days/weeks, on average. As always, you can subscribe to our articles Web feed or enter your email address to get updates sent to you. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Beth Kirsch of Like.com.

Like.com is Featured as one of the comparison shopping engines on our Product Listing Guide!

Part of my job requires that be up to speed on newer technologies and that I thoroughly research cutting edge eCommerce shopping carts so that when I am asked about them by my clients, I actually have some understanding of what they are talking about. Recently, I have been looking into the Channel Intelligence Solution and was really impressed with what I saw. They are making some big announcements and have a lot of insights into the world of selling online, not to mention they offer solutions for nearly any type of eTailer.

I had a chance to get some of my questions answered when CI graciously accepted my invitation for an interview. Vik Murty, Vice President of SellPath Manufacturer Solutions, at CI was kind enough to spend a few moments going through my question in order to provide answers to our readers and myself.

Channel Intelligence Company Overview:

Channel Intelligence has been empowering online commerce since 1999 and offers a wide range of eCommerce services specifically designed to meet the needs of many different types of online sellers. CI has programs that are tailored to directly serve product manufacturers, online retailers and content publishers who wish to use a combination of cutting edge technology, unique intelligent software and quality company staff, including customer service/support.

In addition to servicing fortune 500 companies such as Best Buy, Sharp or Kodak, CI has partnered with some of the leading companies in online commerce. CI partners include companies like BazaarVoice and Shop.com.

Channel Intelligence Solutions:

SellPath – More Details

• SellPath Channel Manager: Gives manufacturers the ability to display online and local points of sale, within its online product pages.
• SellPath Brand Manager: For retail partners without an online store, Brand Manager gives manufacturers the ability to create and “lease” one for those partners which is driven directly from the manufacturer’s product catalog.
• SellPath Media Exchange: Provides rich media (i.e., Flash or Quicktime) product demos and training to retail partners without impacting their Web sites.
• SellPath StoreFront: Quickly creates and distributes brand showcases for use at retail partner’s web sites or a manufacturer’s own site.
• SellPath TrueTag Analytics: Tracks the effectiveness of manufacturers online advertising, from point of display to point of sale.

SellCore – More Details

• SellCore Publisher Solutions from Channel Intelligence provides scalable data management and optimization services for online product data. These services include the aggregation, standardization and organization of product data from multiple retailers.

SellCast – More Details

• SellCast Online Marketing – solutions designed to drive qualified buyers on shopping sites to a retailer’s online store to increase Web sales and improve ROI.
• SellCast Marketplace Integration – solutions designed to help retailers with their cost-per-action (CPA) marketing programs through a complete offering including product data and order integration with online marketplaces.
• SellCast Spend Management – solutions designed to provide retailers with multiple options for managing online marketing programs such as comparison shopping engines.
• SellCast Local Marketing- solutions designed to drive qualified buyers on shopping sites to a retailer’s local store to increase overall store sales.
• SellCast Mobile Marketing – solutions designed to drive qualified buyers to online and local retailers through branded mobile affinity marketing programs.
• SellCast Data Enhancement – solutions designed to help retailers optimize their Web sites or product data to capture more consumer interest and turn more browsers into buyers.
• SellCast TrueTag Marketing – solutions designed to help retailers accurately implement, track and measure their various online marketing programs.

Vik Murty Talks About Channel Intelligence & SellPath:

Channel Intelligence offers solutions for retailers, publishers and manufacturers. What is the most popular solution you offer? SellCast? SellCore? or SellPath? Why?

Each product line uses the same overall patented meta-base and each line is meant for a different audience. In terms of sheer numbers, there are far more retailers in the world than manufacturers or publishers so our client list in proportion to this.

How long has Channel Intelligence been developing and using the SellPath solution?

SellPath was the company’s first product line, CI is a technology/internet company in business since 1999.

Who are some of the BIG NAMES in eTail currently using the Channel Intelligence SellPath solution?

Retailers: Office Max, Best Buy, Circuit City, eToys, Home Depot, Lowe’s; Manufacturers: Sharp, Mitsubishi, Intuit, Kodak, Sling Media, WMH Tools, Black and Decker

How does SellPath help manufacturers manage Online and Offline channels and what makes SellPath unique compared to other providers?

SellPath uniquely offers both online and traditional store channel management. SelPath customers get a dashboard to see how much traffic is interested in local stores, how much interested in online shopping and where! With SellPath, our clients’s retailers can submit store inventory to the sku level to drive traffic to those stores that have products in stock to offer a far easier consumer experience. Online, we can report how much traffic was sent where, and from that traffic, how much sales was generated.

What is the benefit of using a solution like SellPath to work with Online and local retailers?

Answered above, Channel Support and Management, end to end marketing statistics with sales, better consumer experience, and extending the manufacturer’s brand to retail.

How does SellPath help manufacturers manage their brand?

A peculiar aspect of the online world is that customers tend to gravitate towards manufacturers sites while shopping, in addition retailers tend to build the merchandising online. This is the opposite of the traditional world! In fact, in traditional stores in the older paradigm, manufacturer packaging and messaging is prominent whereas shoppers go to retailers for awareness and product comparison. With the growing amount of research online and traffic to manufacturer’s websites, manufacturers need the online guidance and channel management that CI provides.

What solutions are available to manufacturers who do not yet have an Online presence?

CI offers soup to nuts online presence and services to get to full speed from a standstill: We can build and host product pages rapidly, optimize them continuously for search, build a taxonomy and categorize these products in the way consumers expect to shop, offer the tools to effectively communicate the clients brand, and quickly support and manage their channel online.

How can manufacturers use SellPath within their current eCommerce enabled store?

Similar to above.

Why is it important for manufacturers to share media and training materials with Online and local retailers?

Manufacturers are the primary source of truth or expert in their products. They know their products better than anyone. It is they who need to create the most depth to product training to get the most effective messages disseminated.

How does SellPath Media Exchange help manufacturers to share their media and training materials without impacting their brand or web store?

SellPath Media Exchange allows a Brand to create product and brand tours to put their message out and support their channel with first class merchandising without burdening their channel partner’s sites.

What are the benefits to manufacturers who use the SellPath StoreFront solution?

Extending the manufacturer’s brand to the point of sale. StoreFront is a packaging and messaging vehicle that allows simple shopping for consumers fond of a particular brand. It is like a kiosk in a traditional store. For the manufacturer we offer a dynamic solution that is easily adaptable across a variety of retailers or for their own site. Furthermore, the dynamic nature means that the StoreFront automatically displays only available products and categories and thereby offering simple management of this experience.

Channel Intelligence has recently made some big announcements such as the addition of SellPath TrueTag Analytics. How will the new analytics tool work and what kind of data will be available to track?

TrueTag is a truly amazing tool that represents the HOLY GRAIL of marketing. It is the only tool that directly marries sales to marketing dollars. With TrueTag analytics, a manufacturer can not only measure the traffic that is generated by each ad but also view the whole process from generation of the interest to awareness at their site, to interest in shopping at retailers to sales! Manufacturers can manage ad spend, development funds, or coop marketing programs by seeing which channel programs are most effective. In this manner, manufacturers not only create more sales from ad spend, but also become more intelligent about which promotions, advertising, messages, creative or channel partners are the most effective.

Where do you see Channel Intelligence in the next 3 to 5 years?

We are a platform and one of those companies that LOVES data. We think that we can standardize merchandising similar to the peg hook in a traditional store! With a lack of standards, the wrong entities are presenting brands and consumer messages – that is why retailers do not repackage boxes in stores! 3-5 years is an eternity in the online world, CI is poised to not only prosper but drive the nature of eCommerce in that period of time.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Vik: Thanks so much for taking the time to sit down and write back such thorough answers to my questions. I really enjoy learning about innovative ideas, new trends and ‘smart’ technology (which CI has a lot of). I discovered a lot of of new things I hadn’t known before this interview and will continue to watch as you release new features, expand product offerings and grow within the industry. I look forward to seeing where you go and all the upcoming intelligent tools you have planned. Thanks again Vik, feel free to drop us a line anytime you are planning a BIG release, I’d certainly be willing to cover it on the blog.

About Vik Murty: Currently, Vik holds the Vice President position within SellPath Manufacturer Solutions part of Channel Intelligence and is responsible for the product development and business growth of the SellPath product line. Prior to joining CI, he served as Senior Brand Manager for Mitsubishi Digital Television responsible for various brand, product and channel marketing functions, including Mitsubishi’s online marketing and channel support program.

Vik’s experience also includes launching Samsung brand major appliances in the US for Samsung Electronics as a Category Product Manager, and managing relationships with key Midwest retailers for DIRECTV as manager of Sales and Distribution. He began his consumer electronics career at Circuit City Stores, Inc. in store management.

Vik had served on the CEA Communications Committee from 2005 to 2007. He has a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Managing Technology Intensive Enterprises from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and Economics from Bentley College.

StreetPrices is a comparison shopping engine and bargain/deal shopping finder site that focuses on consumer electronics products, but also covers products that range from computer equipment to office products, including PC components. StreetPrices has been in existence since about 1997 and lists both new and used products within their shopping engine. Their price search engine scours the Net for the lowest priced items and displays them to shoppers who are using their interface.

Browse links or type in a manufacturer, part number or key word in our search box to find the items you are looking for. Click on ‘Compare Prices’ for the product of your choice or refine your search query for more results. Compare shipping, prices and in-stock status from a variety of merchants and click through to be taken directly to the product page on the merchant website. Finding items is easy and fast!

StreetPrices Shoppers Can:

Shoppers who use StreetPrices have access to their unique user interface and technology.

• Browse product categories by low price, manufacturer or popularity
• Search extensive database to find the most relevant search results
• View Search Results Trees to quickly and easily refine queries
• Power Search by product feature such as Megapixels or Digital Zoom
• Provide feedback and discuss products and merchants on user forums
• Purchase with confidence knowing that you’ve found a great deal

Autumn Looijen Answers 10 Questions About StreetPrices:

Roughly how many merchants are included within StreetPrices?

175

Roughly how many products are included within StreetPrices?

We’ve expanded our database to almost two million products this year, focusing on electronics. Our sister site Compare123.com covers six million products.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on the StreetPrices support and coding teams?

We have a close-knit team of under 25 people. Most people expect us to be much, much bigger (given our large web presence), but we’d rather have a small team of the very best people.

Our small size means that when merchants tell us something, it’s a short trip from the account manager to the CEO’s ears. As a result, we provide the best merchant support in the business. Our account managers are available over the phone to walk merchants through the sign-up process and help optimize feeds, and we’ve created quite a few tools based on merchant requests.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

In addition to StreetPrices, merchants’ products will appear on our sister site Compare123.com. StreetPrices focuses on electronics, while Compare123.com promotes a wider variety of items.

StreetPrices is also available over AIM, which I love using for very quick price checks. If you send an AIM to StreetPricesBot, for example “canon xti”, it will give you the lowest price, and give you a link to see all the sellers. Tell StreetPricesBot “hi” to see how it works.

In addition, we have an international presence for merchants who ship abroad, converting prices to foreign currencies and managing import duty and
VAT calculations. Currently, we support the UK (uk.streetprices.com), Canada (ca.streetprices.com), and Ireland (ie.streetprices.com).

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features StreetPrices offers it’s users?

StreetPrices is fast, accurate, and easy to use. We’ve always been innovative — for example, we were the first company to introduce price alerts and price graphs.

We let you search TVs and digital cameras by specs, so you can find the best deal across different products. Want a 17″ TV (or better)? Here are the 10 cheapest options:

Ten of the cheapest 17″ TV’s Example

We’re about to release a whole set of fun features later this month to make StreetPrices more personalized and even easier to use.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features StreetPrices offers merchants?

First, we actually answer the phone. So you get a fast human response and a quick turn-around time on issues, questions and requests. We compile pricefiles hourly, so it’s easy for us to fix problems.

Second, we have a really nice suite of reporting tools. They give a complete picture of each merchant’s traffic from different angles. For example, we offer really detailed click logs, including IP addresses, URLs from before and after the click, and other information. Merchants can also see clicks by product and time.

We also offer pricefile optimization tools, like our Product Rank Spreadsheet. It shows all the products you’re listing on StreetPrices. For each product, you can see your placement, as well as the top (lowest) three prices.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

I’m really excited about our new release, which is coming out this month. We’re introducing common-sense product pages that will show you all of a digital camera’s kits on one page. We’re also adding searchable stickynotes so you can save your product research, and tools to help you organize your shopping.

Here’s a sneak peek:

We’re continuously adding new features to make the site better for merchants and for users.

How does StreetPrices plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

The Amazon marketplace is complementary — we already include its lowest price in our merchant results.

eBay is great for finding one-of-a-kind items, but terrible if you want to compare prices. The listings are disorganized, so it’s hard to compare apples to apples, and their search results are cluttered with products you don’t want. Compare that to StreetPrices, where you’ll find the right product on the right page, with all the sellers organized in easy-to-read chart.

Where do you see StreetPrices in the next 3-5 years?

Supreme World Leader.

What Online product marketplaces, other than StreetPrices, do you personally use to shop from?

I use Craigslist for free stuff, and eBay for antiques.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

I have personally used StreetPrices in the past and it’s one reason why I added them to our Product Listing Guide. They helped me find a great price on a new digital camera, directed me to the merchant who sold it at that price and I bought it. I still have the camera today and it still takes great pictures. Since then I haven’t personally used the site to find any electronics I own, but it is a very valuable service that saves shoppers both time and money. Merchants who sell electronics, TV’s, cameras and office equipment should definitely consider listing with StreePrices (CPC based pricing) to increase exposure, site traffic and hopefully sales too! There can never be too many deal finders, since a lot of the best deal sites can be hard to find themselves. Sites like StreetPrices do all the work for shoppers and provide the information they need in the quickest most efficient ways possible.

To Autumn: Thanks so much for participating in this interview series and for getting back to us with quality answers and feedback about your shopping engine, StreePrices. I learned a lot that I didn’t know, including the upcoming revamp and feature releases (keep me posted for some possible exposure on our site). I really appreciate the detailed information and the “sneak-peek” screenshot you provided, awesome! Feel free to keep us in the StreetPrices loop.

To our readers: We have many more interviews like this one planned for the future. Some are already in the works, so check back often as we have been posting them every few days, on average. As always, you can subscribe to our articles Web feed or enter your email address to get updates sent to you. Hope you enjoyed this interview with StreetPrices.

StreetPrices is Featured as one of the Deal Finders on our Product Listing Guide!

Alan Rimm-Kaufman, author of RKGblog, posted an interview he conducted with Ken that had some interesting and informative answers to Alan’s questions.

Here’s the questions Alan asked, to see Ken’s answers, simply read the whole post on RKGblog:

• For folks not familiar with ScanAlert, can you give us a thumbnail of what you do?
• What are the origins of the firm?
• I’m a tech geek. Can you go into more engineering detail about the various scans you run, how often, and what you are looking for, and so on?
• You mentioned application level exploits like SQL injection. Are there certain classes of vulnerabilities that your scans can’t see?
• What should retailers be doing about the threats you’ve described?
• When you take on a new client, what are the odds they fail their initial scan?
• Three out of four sites fail the first scan to some degree – that’s a sobering statistic. So most online retailers, unless they’re actively working on security, probably face vulnerabilities. What do they do next?
• What is your business model? How do you charge?
• Can you name some clients?
• Retailers say they worry putting a security badge on their site might harm conversion two ways – one, even mentioning the word “hacker” could introduce doubt in shoppers who had not been thinking security, and two, the hackers might see the badge as a challenge, and increase their efforts to harm the site. Thoughts?
• Those are hefty conversion increases. Do you have data on these?
• You are starting to partner with the feed engines. Can you tell us about that?
• Let’s return to web security in general. In your experience, how important should this issue be for online retailers?
• And yet from monitoring buzz in the trades and at the shows, site security is usually a marginal issue.
• Are the online retailers with better security apt to be the smaller folks, or the larger companies?
• Suppose the CEO of a mid-sized online retailer asked you for a five minute summary of the web site security issue. What would you say?

For those of you who do not take security into account when launching an new or existing eCommerce site, you should! It is proving to be a much larger factor for customers and merchants are quickly finding that without proper security badges, certificates and secure payment areas, that it is harder to get sales and takes longer to climb the ladder of success. Plus, there are companies like ScanAlert and Hacker Safe that preach how important it is, basically paving the way of the future and creating a huge following at the same time. There is a ton of valuable information and insight in the Ken’s answers, bravo Alan on putting together such a well written, well crafted, well executed post.

A few posts we have recently done on ScanAlert/Hacker Safe CSE Parterships:

• Yahoo Shopping & ScanAlert Announce Partnership
• PriceGrabber Follows Yahoo & Announces ScanAlert Partnership
• Pronto.com Follows PriceGrabber & Announces ScanAlert Partnership