Interested in Trying Comparison Shopping Sites? Dip Your Toe in First!
Some consumers begin their online shopping experience on search engines, some go directly to specific retail sites and others make a Bee line for comparison shopping engines such as Shopping.com or Nextag. Most comparison shopping sites charge clients on a pay-per-click basis so trying them is not without risk. As with all advertising channels, retailers will best be served if they have a tracking mechanism in place to determine order volume generated from each channel. Many retailers falsely make the assumption that they need to post their entire product catalog to a comparison shopping engine. This is not the case!
If you have never tried one of these channels and are interested in giving them a go, first try listing just products with a high profit margin! If your conversion rate doesn’t end up meeting your expectations, at least you have minimized your risk because you will have made decent money off of the conversions you do see. If the math works out, keep adding more products to your feed. Another helpful tip is to make sure you are using an Upsell Overlay for the products that you are listing. Suggesting the right products will result in an increase order size, which helps offset your advertising expenditures.
Nexternal clients have the benefit of being able to automatically push product data to the comparison shopping sites. If you wish to exclude specific products from the marketplace feeds, edit a product and on page 2, select “Exclude from Marketplace” in the Marketplace Options section. To turn on the Upsell feature, visit Layout/Edit Main Layout/Products and set the Related Products Upsell Overlay parameter to Auto Update. Once you have done that, make sure you have specified Related Products for the products in your marketplace feeds!
Comparison Shopping sites can be a great marketing channel for retailers that are price competitive. Why not dip your toe in and give them a shot?
Coming from a medical and non-profit management background, Taryn has extensive experience in customer service and marketing. She is a Senior Account Manager for Nexternal and loves working with her clients to develop social media and marketing strategies to improve their online presence. In her spare time, she also runs a successful eCommerce jewelry and essential oils business.
