Online marketplace eBay has relaunched price comparison site Shopping.com as an e-commerce advertising network as it seeks to grow its connections with retailers and publishers, it has been announced today.
Following its purchase of the site in 2005, eBay is rebranding the business as the eBay Commerce Network and will now allow merchants and publishers to advertise via eBay and other websites using a single campaign.
Explaining the move, which will see Shopping.com continue to exist as a publisher on the network, eBay‘s Head of Sales Ryan Kemp told Retail Gazette: “The shopping.com name really doesn‘t resonate with what we are doing and where we are looking to go so the eBay Commerce Network will represent us better.
“Ever since the introduction and evolution of real time shopping, consumer behaviour has changed and there is a need to be across all touch points. This is paramount to the success of retailers and as such it is less about being a core site offering just price comparison solutions.
“We are keen to move away from the association of just being a price comparison site; we are a network that connects supply and demand through retailers and our network of publishers ought to really leverage the brand in the hopes of growing in that area.
“So all of our investment and resources have been pumped into building this network and advertising platform where we can continue to extend the reach for our retailers.”
Connecting thousands of merchants and retailers, eBay Commerce Network reaches over 250 million consumers monthly and offers publishers global reach with coverage in the UK, US and Europe.
Commenting on the relaunch, David McCall, UK Country Manager for the eBay Commerce Network said: “The eBay Commerce Network mission is to connect consumers to the world‘s advertisers by building the world‘s best performing commerce advertising platform.
“We have been at the forefront of the rapid changes e-commerce has undergone in the last decade.
As a result, our business model has completely transformed since eBay acquired Shopping.com in 2005.
“By offering some of the best tools on the market for both publishers and merchants to optimise their campaigns, eBay Commerce Network sets itself apart as one of the most robust and far-reaching commerce networks available.”
Network integration between the two is now complete though there will be further development down the line this year and next to allow the business to “leverage and harness the power of eBay for our customers”, said Kemp.
“Ultimately, their strategy and lexicon surrounds connecting buyers and sellers and we align well with that,” he added.
eBay Commerce Network is adept at tracking sales coming through the network and, as big data becomes an increasingly important part of the digital landscape, the company believes it can use such information to help vendors control marketing spend using a stop solution while helping publishers send better quality traffic to retailers with value based pricing.
“We want to grow our publisher base while at the same time growing our retailer base and the selections that they give us as well,” Kemp told us.
“We hope to educate retailers that we really can reach out to customers at different touch points while browsing online.”
