<<<Tuesday November 17 2:51 PM ET
Yahoo!'s one-stop shopping: Portal joins sites seeking new ways to make money
By Matthew Broersma, ZDNet
Yahoo! Inc.'s new motto might just be "click 'til you drop."
The Santa Clara-based company Tuesday launched its entry into what is shaping up to be an online, holiday season horse race. Yahoo! Shopping lets users
choose from among 2 million items, from more than 2,700 merchants, all with a single shopping cart. That means you only have to enter your payment and
shipping information once -- a big plus if you're planning to buy from a number of online stores.
Yahoo! expands its range
"Yahoo! has clearly established itself as a trusted brand and a leader in online shopping. For millions of people, Yahoo! is the single source used to find, compare
and buy products across the Web,'' said Jeff Mallett, Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) chief operating officer, in a statement. "Through Yahoo! Shopping, we now offer
our users a complete shopping experience, enabling them to easily access and purchase millions of products."
The Yahoo! Shopping merchants, which include FAO Schwarz, Egghead.com (Nasdaq:EGGS) Inc., Tower Records and others, are divided into 14 categories,
such as apparel, books and electronics.
The Yahoo! announcement follows Excite Inc.'s (Nasdaq:XCIT) recent introduction of an online "wallet" on its site, which functions similarly to Yahoo! Shopping.
Internet hubs such as Yahoo! and Excite are essentially advertising-supported businesses, similar to television networks. They increase their profits by encouraging
their users to return again and again, using a variety of free services as incentives.
Portals change stripes
But the so-called portals have recently moved into the e-commerce business, as a way to get a cut of the more lucrative online retail market.
On Monday, Excite signed a deal with Consumer Guide to include third-party product reviews in its shopping category. The same day, 911gifts.com, a one-stop
gift shop, relaunched its online stores on the Web and on AOL.
Most portals, including Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS), Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq:SEEK), Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP) and Snap.com already
have consumer shopping guides directing them to other e-commerce Web sites.
"Excite, [America Online] and the rest are hoping that recent increases in Internet shopping and the holiday shopfest will rev up that electronic commerce revenue
stream," analysts from Zona Research Inc. noted in a report this week.
"Electronic commerce revenues -- recurring revenues that keep on delivering -- are a highly attractive supplement to the stagnating market for advertising dollars."
See Also:
Portal shopping sprees -- it's all about name branding
This time, it's personal portal mania
AOL declares war with site overhaul, hopes to beat portals at their own game
New study says portals are all the same, to their detriment >>>
Oh, I see, amzn has no web savvy competition 8-}}} |
