Shopping.com Pricing Announcement Newsletter

May 6, 2011 0 Comments

Here is the latest letter from Shopping.com on their new Pricing. They are implementing a new rate card as of May 16, 2011. The one thing that I like is that they will now be showing you the maximum CPC rate that you will be charged for each category. Most CSE engines publish the minimum CPC rate for each category, so wild swings in cost could happen once your products go live. At least now you will know how much you will be paying for clicks on Shopping.com. Below is the newsletter that Shopping.com sent out.

Hello,

As part of our continued goal to remain a competitive and efficient marketing channel for your site, Shopping.com will be implementing a new rate card on May 16th, 2011.

What’s changing?
In contrast to the industry standard practice of publishing minimum CPCs, we are introducing an

updated rate card where the new published rates reflect the maximum CPC you will be charged. With our focus on quality, Shopping.com will continue to dynamically discount these CPCs based on traffic performance. Maximum rates do not include custom bids set above the published rate card.

How does this affect my campaign?

Merchants can expect their return on ad spend to remain flat as we will leverage Shopping.com’s Value Based Pricing tool to incent our publishers to focus on quality. This allows us to reward the best performing publishers and invest in higher quality traffic, which results in a higher volume of sales for you. Here is an example of how this incentive based tool works:

[Rate Card CPC] x [Publisher Quality Score] = [Billed CPC]

Category
Rate Card Publisher
Quality Score Billed
CPC % Savings

Sample
Category $.40 70% $.28 30%

What actions do I need to take as a result of this change?
There are no actions required of merchants from this pricing change unless bidding was leveraged to optimize product placement. In this case, to maintain optimal placement, please re-adjust bids in the Merchant Account Center after May 16th, 2011.

Please reference this
FAQ for more details and contact us at merchantsupport@shopping.com if you have any questions regarding this pricing change.

Sincerely,

Kristy Troup
Head of Merchant Services, Shopping.com

Shopzilla Sold for $165 Million

May 2, 2011 0 Comments

Shopzilla, the comparison shopping site owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., was sold for $165 Million. The deal is expected to close at the end of May. The lucky buyer was Symphony Technology Group LLC, which is a private equity firm. The price tag on Shopzilla was $360 Million less than what Scripps paid for the comparison shopping site back in 2005. Like many other large companies that complete buys like this, Scripps did nothing with improving Shopzilla and trying to increase traffic. They wanted the site to try and pad their overall revenue, but with increasing CPC rates on Google, the paid search advertising that Shopzilla used was becoming too costly.

This initial story ran by Internet Retailer just shows that sometimes these comparison shopping sites can be overvalued, but when the number actually come in, they can be sold for cheap. I realize that most don’t think that $165 Million is a small price tag, but it really is for a site like Shopzilla. They bring a lot of traffic to their merchant partners and get paid well for doing so. If Symphony works on changing the feel of Shopzilla along with diversifying its marketing plan, then the comparison shopping site could bring a good amount of revenue to the bottom line. Symphony indicated that there will not be any major changes for the merchants at first, but their might be some later down the road.

Setting Up A Local Comparison Shopping Engine

February 4, 2011 0 Comments

We have already discussed ways to setup a comparison shopping website with the help of a few scripts, but now there is a way to setup a local comparison shopping website. A company called Lucky Local is providing an api script that provides users with the ability to create a quality local product comparison website. These are growing these days as consumers look locally for cheaper products and the ability to pick them up from the store.

Lucky Local charges monthly for their API script at $19.99 per month. Each affiliate is required to maintain the relationship with the merchant via affiliate networks such as Commission Junction or Linkshare. This enables Lucky Local to stay away from dealing with all of the potential merchants. If you sign up now for the script, they will provide you with 90 Days free to test and implement their API scripts. This is a great deal and can help you find out if a local shopping engine will work for you.

Affiliates are provided with different implementation tools such as widgets or full blown websites that can handle customer requests. Widgets can be used on websites that are already complete and just need some extra ways to earn money. If you are new the the space, you can get full source code for a functioning website based on the Lucky Local API. This makes it easy for anyone to start their own local comparison shopping website. To see all of the examples, you can check out their wiki.

They provide each affiliate with three different integration methods. They call them Basic, Standard, and Advanced. Each one has its perks depending on what you want to do. They provide you with a demo of each version along with the ability to download all of the source code from the demo and any applicable documentation. Once you modify the source code to meet your needs, then you are off and running. Below is a screenshot of the Advanced integration.

Smarter.com’s Invitation Only Registration is Official

February 3, 2011 0 Comments

As of 2/1/2011, Smarter.com is no longer available for merchants that do not have national reach and recognition. This change was mentioned by us on how they plan on changing their business model. Many of the clients that we work with have received emails in regards to getting refunds for any money that was already deposited in the account. While it is sad to see a company have to change so drastically, it is not a surprise for Smarter. They never really took charge of their previous business model. Many retailers were never really happy with the low ROI that was attributed to Smarter and its traffic.

I believe that the invitation only applies to the companies that have given Smarter a lot of money in the past and will continue to do so. I wonder if they will change their pricing model for the large merchants to a CPA in order to utilize the traffic that the Smarter.com domain is already receiving. This would be a winner for both Smarter and the merchants if the deal with worded correctly. A lot of smaller merchants were not really happy with the change as Smarter did not cost them as much as the larger comparison shopping engines, but still allowed potential customers to see their sites. Luckily for them, there are many more comparison shopping engines to choose from.

If a merchant wants to sign up for Smarter, they have changed their new merchant signup page to show that they are now invitation only. While anyone can submit their site for consideration, please note that they are really only looking for large brand merchants, not small lesser known companies. Here is a screenshot of the new signup page.

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.

iMark Interactive