Comparaison shopping trend analysis

Résumé du document

Internet Shopbots provide automated tools that allow customers to easily search for prices and product characteristics from online retailers. Since their first appearance on the US market in 1999, the help and assistance tools for online shopping have conspicuously stirred up the interest of e-commerce users and researchers. Online retailers count on them to obtain important traffic to their website and boost their sales, while many studies have been trying to demonstrate the impact of this shopping intermediate on consumer's behaviour and decision-making process. Given the skyrocketing economical figures of e-commerce, it seems today that the intermediation in online shopping has become a major economic need. In such a context, it is no surprise if successful shopbots like MySimon, Kelkoo and Shopping.com were acquired by some of the web's largest online properties . Moreover, all internet giants MSN, Google and Yahoo! have developed or extended their own shopping comparison service in an attempt to enforce their positioning in this strategic sector. It is necessary to dig beyond the surface and to try to understand why some retailers deem them an important threat to their trade, placing them 'one click away' from their competitors while others consider them a major business partner. Moreover, while shopbots were initially meant to serve the customer's interest alone - information neutrality and transparency, their revenue model is built on commissions and direct payments from retailers. How can shopbots conciliate these contradictory interests and build partnerships with the retailers while keeping the user's trust, both necessary for the success of a business model that would enable them to achieve profitability in the long term ? To understand why and how shopbots have grown such a major e-commerce issue and answer the questions above, I first highlight the major characteristics of Shopbots' functioning. Then I analyze their impacts and limits on online shopping actors. Finally, I focus on the coming trends and evolutions of comparison shopping.

Extraits

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[...] Aggregator sites include most search destinations such as search engines, shopping comparison sites, shopping portals, and auction sites. A study conducted by BizRate in 2005 revealed that 59% of online shoppers begin their searches on aggregator sites rather than directly on a merchant site. Below is a summary of aggregator market share: Aggregator market share (source: BizRate Research 2005) 54% search engines shopping comparisons sites auction sites shopping portals The retailer side: Shopbots friend or foe ? The most obvious potential impact of shopbots on internet retailers is to increase pressure on margins. [...]

[...] The formatted information can then be displayed. Since the information is converted to the standard format in real time, the invention allows quick addition of online merchants and additional product categories can be added quickly and easily. Further, information about a product item can be easily enlarged as market needs increase without changing a database of codes one-by-one. In accordance with one embodiment, the database of URL information includes URLs specific to site directories at each merchant site so that queries can be easily generated by appending user-provided keywords. [...]

[...] TRENDS AND EVOLUTION Specialisation and personalisation Specialised shopbots have existed since the very beginning of comparison shopping. Though, the trend will undoubtedly strengthen in response to progressive market concentration. Specialisation on one particular product/service category might be the key to survival and the way to improve the information comprehensiveness, that is to say, user satisfaction. Below are the most representative specialised shopbots: Designing new uses Horizontal partnership In order to increase the traffic on the shopbot website, the managers have to set up new user experience to complement the website activity. [...]

[...] on for $700 million in 2000, Yahoo! acquired Kelkoo for million in 2004 and Ebay acquired Shopping.com in 2005 for $620 million. Figure Shopbot toolbar 3 "The Impact of Shopbots on Electronic H甄Ĉ̏jᘀ葱唀Ĉᘆ葱̟jᘀ葱唀Ĉ䩞[2]䩡 䡭ࠉ䡳ࠉ̦jᘀ葱唀Ĉ䩞[3]䩡 䡭Ѐ䡮Ѐ䡳ࠉࡵ ᘖ葱帀Ɋ愀⁊洀ै猈ै̟ᘀ葱唀Ĉ䩞[4]䩡 䡭ࠉ䡳ࠉ̢jᘀ葱唀Ĉ䩞[5]䩡 䡭Ѐ䡮Ѐࡵ Michael D. Smith Source : bizrate.com Figure 4 : vendor label Source : www.bizrate.com Figure 3 : Vendor rating Figure 2 : Buying cycle Shopbots core service to the user is help on the evaluation of alternatives. Depending on their generation (cf. [...]