Comments on: Impending Ecommerce Doom http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:53:59 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: search_junkie http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1033 search_junkie Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:25:02 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1033 I say that the more these analysts downplay the e-commerce and CSE environment the better. The less people that have my kind of vision about e-commerce the better. I will have less competition that way! ;-) I say that the more these analysts downplay the e-commerce and CSE environment the better. The less people that have my kind of vision about e-commerce the better. I will have less competition that way! ;-)

]]> By: Brian Smith http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1032 Brian Smith Sun, 09 Sep 2007 01:43:50 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1032 /t - the nice thing about the web is that anyone can de-bookmark any site at at any time. thanks for the comment! /t – the nice thing about the web is that anyone can de-bookmark any site at at any time. thanks for the comment!

]]> By: trent http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1031 trent Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:36:20 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1031 So with all the "pending doom" for CSE's does that mean we can de-bookmark this blog?! :) The predictions are interesting and might be true but what's more curious is the timeliness of the post considering this blog has been stale and lacked the needed content to be relevant to retailers for some time. Moreover, it proves to readers that you're more into attracting attention and less about solving problems or finding ways to maximize returns for retailers. The pledge of "expect me to dig" could turn out to be a hollow promise as the the conflict of interest between this blog, your singlefeed business, and your press/analysts responsibilities have blurred the lines of what a "trusted" source should be. /t ************************* The graph from Alexa tells the story: /* So with all the “pending doom” for CSE’s does that mean we can de-bookmark this blog?! :)

The predictions are interesting and might be true but what’s more curious is the timeliness of the post considering this blog has been stale and lacked the needed content to be relevant to retailers for some time.

Moreover, it proves to readers that you’re more into attracting attention and less about solving problems or finding ways to maximize returns for retailers. The pledge of “expect me to dig” could turn out to be a hollow promise as the the conflict of interest between this blog, your singlefeed business, and your press/analysts responsibilities have blurred the lines of what a “trusted” source should be.

/t

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The graph from Alexa tells the story:

/*

]]> By: psurplus http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1030 psurplus Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:56:07 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1030 DOOM impending doom! Ha this made me chuckle, as I can totally envision reporters frantically running around stirring up trouble and undermining consumer trust in ecommerce as a whole. I agree with your predictions all the way. DOOM impending doom! Ha this made me chuckle, as I can totally envision reporters frantically running around stirring up trouble and undermining consumer trust in ecommerce as a whole. I agree with your predictions all the way.

]]> By: TwoXFour http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1029 TwoXFour Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:27:38 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1029 No mention of little old Caio, the Greenfield Online CS co that grew revs 77% y/y in the most recent quarter. Anyone here use them or have any opinion on them? No mention of little old Caio, the Greenfield Online CS co that grew revs 77% y/y in the most recent quarter. Anyone here use them or have any opinion on them?

]]> By: davbel http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1028 davbel Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:22:43 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1028 We've recently canned shopping.com for the exact reason you mention in your post - Conversion rates. We're a UK based etailer and we average a 6% conversion rate whereas after a recent review of all of the SCEs we use, SDC averaged less than 1%. When we examined the details it wasn't surprising why their numbers were so poor. Some of their new "partner" sites don't actually publish any pricing but instead encourage users to click every link and visit all of the merchants' sites to see pricing thus earning SDC and their partner more click revenue. We also had examples of SDC partners clicking their own links chalking up over 2000 clicks in a few days on the exact same product. We suspended our account and emailed them asking for an explanation and after 3 weeks, we're still waiting a reply from them..... And if I'm honest, I wish we'd have done it sooner. We've more than doubled the number of orders they generated for us in same period last month for (so far) 1/4 of the spend. We’ve recently canned shopping.com for the exact reason you mention in your post – Conversion rates.

We’re a UK based etailer and we average a 6% conversion rate whereas after a recent review of all of the SCEs we use, SDC averaged less than 1%.

When we examined the details it wasn’t surprising why their numbers were so poor. Some of their new “partner” sites don’t actually publish any pricing but instead encourage users to click every link and visit all of the merchants’ sites to see pricing thus earning SDC and their partner more click revenue.

We also had examples of SDC partners clicking their own links chalking up over 2000 clicks in a few days on the exact same product.

We suspended our account and emailed them asking for an explanation and after 3 weeks, we’re still waiting a reply from them…..

And if I’m honest, I wish we’d have done it sooner. We’ve more than doubled the number of orders they generated for us in same period last month for (so far) 1/4 of the spend.

]]> By: share.websitemagazine.com http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1027 share.websitemagazine.com Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:38:09 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1027 <strong>Impending Ecommerce Doom</strong> The holiday shopping season is upon us meaning many analysts will start predicting big or small sales based on year over year numbers (provided by NetRatings, ComScore, Hitwise, etc.) for the ecommerce group. Impending Ecommerce Doom

The holiday shopping season is upon us meaning many analysts will start predicting big or small sales based on year over year numbers (provided by NetRatings, ComScore, Hitwise, etc.) for the ecommerce group.

]]> By: someguy http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1026 someguy Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:20:47 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1026 Shopzilla is not going to win a thing. The company is a walking corpse. They will be lucky to see next summer. The entire thing will be disbanded, and whatever talent is left will be put to work making specialty sites for Scripps' cable networks. In the end, Scripps is going to look foolish for spending half a billion dollars on what amounts to an Adsense arbitrage network. If Shopping.com makes the same percentage of its revenue from traffic arbitrage as Shopzilla (which it sounds like, from your post), they won't survive much longer. The entire "space" occupied by these useless comparison shopping sites will die, unless they can provide something worthwhile. PriceGrabber can take the US, NexTag can take the EU, and then they can both wait for another year or two to die. Once companies with actual search technology (Google, Yahoo... even Ask) take product search seriously, these intermediary companies won't be around. Arbitrage is a temporary business model. Shopzilla is not going to win a thing. The company is a walking corpse. They will be lucky to see next summer. The entire thing will be disbanded, and whatever talent is left will be put to work making specialty sites for Scripps’ cable networks. In the end, Scripps is going to look foolish for spending half a billion dollars on what amounts to an Adsense arbitrage network.

If Shopping.com makes the same percentage of its revenue from traffic arbitrage as Shopzilla (which it sounds like, from your post), they won’t survive much longer.

The entire “space” occupied by these useless comparison shopping sites will die, unless they can provide something worthwhile. PriceGrabber can take the US, NexTag can take the EU, and then they can both wait for another year or two to die. Once companies with actual search technology (Google, Yahoo… even Ask) take product search seriously, these intermediary companies won’t be around. Arbitrage is a temporary business model.

]]> By: joelaz http://comparisonengines.com/2007/09/04/impending-ecommerce-doom/#comment-1025 joelaz Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:19:26 +0000 http://www.comparisonengines.com/?p=742#comment-1025 Back with a bold post. I believe L.L. Cool J put it best... "Dont call it a comeback I been here for years Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear" Let's grab lunch sometime later this month. Back with a bold post. I believe L.L. Cool J put it best…

“Dont call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear”

Let’s grab lunch sometime later this month.

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