Today, Yahoo launched Yahoo Product Search, an e-commerce search engine that will power the redesigned Yahoo Shopping by adding comparison shopping. Yahoo Shopping is now integrated with Yahoo Search and has been completely redesigned with a new focus on comparison-shopping.
Yahoo Product Search is a new search engine that utilizes algorithmic search technology to extract results from multiple sources, including:
- Yahoo's existing database of more than 17,000 merchants and millions of products currently part of the Yahoo Shopping platform;
- a new database of merchants and products that have established direct feeds into Yahoo Product Search through Yahoo's new Product Submit program; and
- merchants and products identified through advanced crawling capabilities.
The comprehensive product search experience is also deeply integrated into the redesigned Yahoo Shopping.
Yahoo Shopping has been completely redesigned with a focus on creating the most effective comparison-shopping destination. The site now features insightful and unbiased product and merchant information to assist consumers during the purchasing process. With the integration of Yahoo Product Search, Yahoo Shopping has been expanded from a semi-exclusive shopping site into a more comprehensive, open platform where consumers will be able to access results from across the Web and find products from almost any merchant online.
New feature highlights include:
- Side-by-side price and feature comparison: Consumers can compare up to ten products at one time, in an easy-to-view, side-by-side chart
- Consumer Reviews: Users now have the ability to rate merchants or products using a new multi-dimensional feedback system, providing valuable information to other consumers about critical merchant (i.e., customer service, fulfillment, etc.) and product-specific issues.
- Buyer's Guides: Detailed information on pricing, calculated shipping and tax costs, product specifications, expert and user reviews and merchant information from well-known retailers to specialty stores, all on one page.
"The combination of Yahoo Product Search and Yahoo Shopping creates a powerful online comparison shopping tool for consumers," said Rob Solomon, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Shopping. "Some sites are already good at comparison shopping but don't have search functionality. Other sites focus on finding numerous results, but don't provide critical product information necessary to make an informed purchase."
To support the functionality of the new Yahoo Product Search, Yahoo Shopping has developed effective paid inclusion advertising solutions. Based on research and merchant feedback, Yahoo Shopping now enables businesses to participate in a cost-per-click (CPC) lead generation-based model in addition to being able to purchase targeted media-based advertising. More importantly, the new model provides merchants with more flexibility and control over their online campaigns.
To take advantage of this new pay-for-performance model, online merchants use Yahoo Product Submit, a new Web-based tool that provides them with the ability to easily purchase inclusion in Yahoo Product Search (on a CPC basis), upload their product datafeeds and manage their account, including generating valuable performance reports. Account management is available for select retail clients with complex product databases.
Merchants can purchase inclusion in the following areas:
- Yahoo Product Search - paid inclusion indicates that listings are included within the index of products searched but does not guarantee where the results will rank nor does it enable merchants to influence their ranking. Yahoo Product Search results are determined by how relevant they are to the search query.
- Yahoo Shopping Buyer's Guides - paid inclusion in buyer's guides provides merchants with three tiers of advertising logo placement, bolded text, and text links.
Yahoo Product Search powers the redesigned Yahoo Shopping, providing consumers with comparison-shopping. The redesigned Yahoo Shopping now boasts a variety of comparison-shopping features including side-by-side product comparison, detailed buyer's guides, tax and shipping calculator tool, consumer product and merchant ratings, and expert product reviews.