Optimization for Shopzilla

Shopzilla, aka Bizrate, remains one of the top performing comparison engines and has an inventory and network as large as any CSE.

Key Features

Shopzilla offers a wide variety of features, the first of which being the advanced bidding system in place. First, Shopzilla offers both product level and category level bidding. The biding interface also features a snapshot of competitive intelligence, showing what the top bids are within each subcategory. The next bid feature of the bidding system, is the ability to use zero bidding as a filtration tool. If a product is not doing well, instead of removing the product completely, a zero bid amount can be placed to offer free clicks. Mind you, this will only work if Shopzilla has a low inventory of that type of product. Otherwise, the product will be buried under merchants who are willing to pay.

Challenges

Traffic, traffic and traffic. More than any other CSE, Shopzilla will bring an avalanche of traffic. Of course this can be good thing if ROI is strong. However, if not watched carefully, Shopzilla can quickly spiral out of control. To properly mange this engine, a careful eye needs to be kept on product and category performance.

Also, be aware of how products are matching up. Shopzilla is not as aggressive at matching products as Shopping.com is, but still, products can fall in with other merchant sellers, or could fall completely out of the mix. No set rules here, these need to be reviewed.

Lastly, keep an eye on categorization. For most searches, Shopzilla will display a choice of categories after search terms are entered, followed by a potential list of matches. Categorization is crucial, because if a consumer picks on the category list at the top, then a merchant will loose traffic if not in the right placement.

November 6th, 2008