No Problem Finding a Parking Spot

By Jan Hepola

A recent survey indicates that more than half of online shoppers plan to use the Internet more than last holiday season to comparison shop (89%), research gifts for others (86%), buy gifts for others (74%), and buy gifts for themselves (53%). (2004 Shop.org/BizRate.com Online Holiday Mood Study)

So, what does that mean for you? Well, if you’re a shopper it means there are more places to get more information on products and services. If you’re selling online it means there are more places you should be listed. It’s not enough these days to simply have a web site: you need the popular shopping web sites to link to you, especially if you want to attract new customers. Below are a few places to check out – whether you’re buying or selling:

BizRate (www.bizrate.com) reviews and compares items and stores. Their goal is to list every shop and product in their searchable database. Towards that goal, they do provide free listings although merchants who pay for their accounts can rank higher than those who don’t. Users are invited to send in review of products and services at the site. Also, some merchants will ask buyers to complete BizRate satisfaction surveys at their site.

Froogle (www.froogle.com) is a search directory of products that works much like its parent site, Google. Froogle does not charge merchants for listings; however, the best way to get listed on Froogle is to send a “data feed” or product catalog. They do a good job of describing this process on their web site.

MySimon (www.mysimon.com) is a comparison shopping site. They list millions of items and always focus on shopping the least expensive merchants. Merchants need to pay to be listed in MySimon; there are a number of listing options.

Epinions (www.epinions.com) is a consumer review site. Members post their reviews. Often the views are biased, but as a shopper it can be a refreshing resource. As a merchant you might want to encourage your happiest customers to share the news about you on this site. Epinions is sponsored by Shopping.com, another online shopping resource.

There are also some interesting gift certificate web sites out there if you are looking to buy or sell a service. Give Anything is one example (www.giveanything.com); they will email your gift or you can print it out to give yourself. Merchants do not pay for inclusion, but Give Anything will take a commission of each sale purchased through a gift certificate.

In today’s competitive landscape, it is essential to have an Internet marketing plan that includes multiple methods of driving traffic to your site. This process is similar to having a yellow pages listing, newspaper ads and sales brochures to bring customers into your offline shop. Getting popular shopping web sites to link to your web site and/or promote your business is one smart way to maximize your Internet investment.

Ms. Jan Hepola is an E-Business Development Consultant with Minnesota Technology Inc.