That is not to say shopping engines work for all merchants or all vertical markets. Clearly there are some markets where price is the only concern and commodity product sales (think digital cameras of a specific brand) typically go to the lowest price found. Also, even when the products listed may not be a commodity for which buyers comparison shop, the cost of goods for the merchant may not make it economical to spend for clicks on a shopping site. The point of the article is simply this: shopping comparison sites can be an effective channel for merchants and merchants should investigate them when it may make sense for their business.

Paul

I agree with your point about picking your battles–that is the key to being successful using this channel. Failure to do so can result in a lot of advertising spend with little return. SEO in this sense stands for Shopping Engine Optimization.

I do not agree that SCEs are only great for products with the lowest price–that seems partially true but an oversimplification. Keep in mind that shoppers consider not just product price but also shipping and tax to get to a final cost. So the low price merchant may get a click on a product that only leads to an abandoned cart due to high shipping costs whereas another merchant with a slightly higher price may get the click and the sale due to more competitive shipping costs or a host of other non-price related reasons (trust, brand, design, etc…).

Paul