Shopzilla Pushing Hard on Product Matching

Everyone knows Amazon is all about product matching, but increasingly Shopzilla is doing the same.

Recently I have seen a huge amount of product matching on Shopzilla for generic keyword searches. That means that when doing a keyword search, the majority of listings that come up are products sold by multiple merchants. The higher ranking of matched listings would make sense, since these product listings would contain higher bids as merchants push for position, and the products would likely have a lot of historical data in place (if there are multiple merchants selling an item, its a good bet that people are aware of the item’s existence and actively seeking it). The key here is that either Shopzilla is getting much better at matching than they were in the past, or Shopzilla is making much more of an effort to match multiple sellers to the item being purchased.

This all leads to some important strategy changes. Merchants should be very aware of their price point in relation to other sellers since a quick and true comparison is more likely. Also, with the increased focus on matching, correct manufacturer information is necessary to make sure Shopzilla can properly match an offer to the correct product listing (that means UPC, MPN, etc.). Lastly, consider sending variations on color and size. Typically I would have not suggested this method in the past, but since this matching wave is emerging, I am seeing more and more listings divided by variation or child item. This means a consumer expects to see a red version of the product since that is the product listing title, so the retailer needs to follow along by making sure the red version is being sent, and not just the main level item. In my experience, sending multiple items before could have made clicks and ad spend spiral out of control, in cases where matching in prevalent, it often pulls in not only more revenue, but also better returns.

February 18th, 2009