Become.com Aquires Pangora in the UK

The comparison shopping engine Become.com has aquired Pangora GmbH. Pangora is a similar service based out of Germany. This looks like a simple expansion acquisition so that Become can properly provide services to the UK retail market. Many US based providers are trying to get a presence in the UK, as it is expanding at a solid rate. While we feel this is good for Become, we do not see it really assisting consumers.

While Become.com has a solid user base and good technology, they are far from being a leader in the comparison shopping space. This expansion will help them grow, but they have been struggling keeping merchants on their platform because of unwarranted CPC rate increases when other larger sites were dropping CPCs. Ultimately, Comparison shopping engines are for the consumer to use for research and price shopping, but you have to have a strong merchant base to provide good results to the consumers. Become has a change to revamp Pangora, and we hope that they do so because it needs it. Good luck to Become.com with their overseas expansion.

Related Posts:

• Smarter.com Changes Business Model
• New Comparison Shopping Engine Coming to the US
• Shopping.com Pricing Announcement Newsletter
• Shopzilla Sold for $165 Million