Shopping.com to test universal shopping cart feature

[mandy]

In a bold move, Shopping.com will begin testing a universal shopping cart feature over the next couple months. The service allows shoppers to add products from multiple merchants to a single Shopping.com cart and purchase those products through Shopping.com. The payment system will be powered by PayPal. Merchants participating in the test will be charged on a revenue share basis as opposed to the standard cost per click model. Shopping.com/PayPal will process the transaction and send the necessary information (name, shipping address, quantity ordered, etc.) to the merchant for order fulfillment. There are two ways merchants can receive this information: via FTP and via the Merchant Account Center . The merchant will then send Shopping.com a status update when the order is processed and Shopping.com will relay an order confirmation to the buyer. Buyers can find out about their order status from their Cart account on Shopping.com. The buyer will receive one order number even if he buys from multiple retailers...

full article: http://www.comparisonengines.com/2006/10...ping-cart/

[mandy]

Channel Advisor's Scott Wingo started a second blog "Comparison Shopping Engine Strategies"

note: CSE in this article is short for Comparison Shopping Engine 

One trend with CSE’s that will be interesting to watch is the trend towards providing a multi-merchant checkout in the CSE. This concept was popular back in the late 90’s (think online mall) and then died an ugly death. The folks at shop.com have had success with a new take on the concept and shopping.com (SDC) in early October announced their intentions to add a shopping cart/checkout to SDC.

There are several points to note about the “CSE adding checkouts” trend:

        If done well, CSE checkouts could improve the buyer experience by streamlining multi-merchant purchases.
   
      Some retailers are concerned by moving the cart+checkout to the CSE, they lose control. Email opt-ins, special checkout features, RSS, loyalty programs, and unique payment methods are all at risk.
 
      Retailers also worry that this trend could be a Trojan Horse for CSEs heading towards charging more via a percentage of sale (CPA vs. CPC). While this may make CSEs more pay-for-performance, retailers fear the net would be a fee increase.

full article: http://www.csestrategies.com/cse/2006/11...shopp.html

From Wingo's eBay Strategies blog:

Once eBay gets EE and Shopping.com using the same checkout system with lots of merchants it will give them the ability to really mix and match which listings show up where.  For example, why not put the shopping.com large merchants on eBay Express. Conversely why not publish the eBay express (traditionally smaller eBay sellers) on Shopping.com?

full article: http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_str...nd_sh.html

[mandy]

more info on the Shopping.com shopping cart test:

Consumers can now purchase vacuums, perfume and printer cartridges at Shopping.com, and they can use their existing eBay User IDs to complete the transaction directly on the site. Shopping.com, which is owned by eBay, is a leading comparison-shopping engine where retailers pay to display their items side-by-side those of other retailers. Consumers can compare prices of items across multiple online retailers, and must click through to the retail site to actually purchase items. But Shopping.com is currently testing a feature that allows consumers to purchase items from multiple retailers in one transaction, directly on Shopping.com.

The test is currently limited to certain merchants in three categories: Fragrances, Vacuums and Cartridges and Toner. According to Shopping.com spokesperson Wendy Sept, elements of the shopping cart testing include buyer registration, a shopping cart, checkout, payment system, and a revenue share program for retailers. "This gives retailers the option to supplement a cost-per-click plan with a revenue share program (also known as cost per acquisition or CPA) - paying only when a shopper purchases their products."...

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m12/i19/s02