June 25, 2004

The above list was produced in October of 2003, and is still pretty much accurate today. As you can readily see, Yahoo Shopping is clearly the strong contender in this market, with more than a 36% market share.

Note that Google's Froogle comparison shopping search engine was only started in December of 2002, which explains why it had less than a one percent market share when this list was produced. It is my expectation that, as time progresses, Froogle will become a significant player in this specialized market. Companies can become Froogle merchants and can freely submit a data feed of their products to Froogle.

How do comparison shopping search engines work for merchants?
So far, we've talked about the person that's searching to buy a specific product, the "end user" if you will. But, if you happen to be a merchant trying to sell your products online, how do comparison shopping search engines fit in your search engine marketing campaign? While this can vary a lot from one comparison shopping search engine to another, some allow merchants to submit some (or all) of their products for free, and then charge a transaction fee for every sale done on their engine.

Froogle is still offered as a beta release, so my feeling is that it's still free, for now at least. How long will Google let you use Froogle for free? I don't have the answer to that question, but if you happen to be serious about comparison shopping search engines, Froogle would seem like a logical choice.

Then, if merchants need to increase their listing positioning higher up within one or more categories, they can always purchase CPC (Cost per Click) advertising as an option.

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Article written by Serge Thibodeau,
President & CEO,
Rank for $ales
Copyright (c) Serge Thibodeau 2004

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