Change is under way at Yahoo Shopping. In addition to a site redesign that launched in the first quarter of 2008, the online shopping mall plans to expand its set-fee-per-click merchant product listings fees to include a bid-fee-per-click model in July, general manager Greg Hintz said at the 2008 Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago this month.
In the current set-fee-per-click format, merchants pay a flat rate for product listings in Yahoo Shopping categories and have little control over positioning. In the bid-fee-per-click format, the highest-ranking positions go to those who bid the most on keywords, similar to keyword bidding in search engine marketing.
Yahoo Shopping also has increased its product categories from 64 to more than 1,200. As a result, merchants’ products can appear in more places than they could under broader headings. Category expansion also means merchants can bid on more granular product areas in addition to broad categories. For example, merchants now can bid on “bath towel,” instead of just “home & garden.” The added categories give merchants greater opportunities to improve their position in product rankings, Hintz said.
The effects of the fee change on pricing will depend on the merchant. “Because we are adding more categories it’s hard to say whether there will be an up or down effect on pricing,” Hintz said. “Some will cost more, some less. We are giving merchants the ability to tailor their campaigns to the categories they make the most money on. ROI should go up”
In the same session, online shopping malls MSN Shopping and AOL Shopping described new initiatives designed to keep their constituents engaged. MSN Shopping is about to launch a loyalty program and AOL Shopping has a new gift card program.
“We have great content on MSN Shopping and we wanted users to be more engaged and to reward them,” said Mark Deruyter, program manager lead at Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Shopping. A new animated web page will feature changeable “storefronts” that can be adapted to fit seasonal shopping and specific categories, such as jewelry, Deruyter told conference attendees.
The home page will include a spinning wheel with a range of credit points enabling frequent shopper program members to “spin to win” up to 50 credits each day. Credits can be redeemed for discounts. “We’re trying to get the customer to come back,” Deruyter said.
The new loyalty program page will launch in July and include a right rail area for niche advertising.
AOL Shopping’s gift card program appeals both to shoppers and merchants, said Sally Henry, director, AOL Shopping. “Users can use the cards universally and buy from any given retailer,” she said.
AOL Shopping is focusing on a “tailored” shopping experience for consumers and merchants, Henry said. In addition to the gift card program, the online mall offers custom storefronts, or boutiques, giving merchants different settings for exclusive product showcases.
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