Smarter.com Changes Business Model
January 4, 2011 
2 Comments
Smarter.com, one of the smaller comparison shopping companies, has decided to change how they do business. In an email received on 1/4/2011, Smarter.com has decided to start cutting smaller retailers from their shopping site in order to work closer with larger, national retailers on an invitation only basis. While this comes no surprise to me, it may shock some smaller retailers. This means that there is one more advertising channel down the drain. While Smarter.com did not always bring a lot of traffic, they did do well for some retailers. In the below email, Smarter outlines how they plan on stripping out smaller retailers in favor of national chains. It seems that this transition will happen by 2/1/2011. If you are a current Smarter.com advertiser, then look for other comparison shopping engines to start advertising on.
In response to an evolution in consumer demand, SMARTER has decided to change the
service we provide to consumers. The initial phase of this change is visibly
evident in the new look and feel of the site. Additional efforts will include
moving to a smaller, invitation only program.Due to the limited nature of the program going forward, we will no longer be able
to allocate a position for your site within our marketplace. Please know that this
is a widespread decision affecting many of our advertisers and not a conclusion we
arrived at lightly. This change will be made effective 12AM PST 2/1/2011. We thank
you for your support of SMARTER and wish you great success in the 2011 year.If you have any questions regarding this decision, please see the FAQs below:
What changes is SMARTER making?
SMARTER is changing to a smaller, limited invitation only program which will focus
on topical and seasonal shopping trends and exclusive deals at national online
retailers.Why was my site not included?
Due to the limited and customized nature of the program, we are only able to work
with a small number of retailers. We have chosen retailers based upon product
selection and availability, brand recognition and consumer demand.What are my options if my site is not included?
Shopping.com, Pricegrabber, and Shopzilla all have comparison shopping programs.
You may decide to work with any one, if not all.
Let us know what you think of this change and if it is going to affect your advertising mix. If you need help getting setup with other shopping channels, then check out ChannelAdvisor. They have a great software to deal with advertising on any of the comparison shopping engines.
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This doesn’t really surprise me as Smarter has never really caught on with comparison shoppers. They didn’t market well and their site didn’t do anything that Shopping.com or shopzilla didn’t. I don’t know how well the invitation only model will do for them.
You are correct. Smarter has been small compared to others. They really tried to go social with their site when they launched it, but it never really caught on or they just didn’t advertise well. Many retailers that we have spoken to don’t really care that they are going to invitation only.