On average, retailers get 10% of their online sales through the comparison shopping channel and 43% of merchants surveyed say that this proportion has increased in the past year.
The report findings are divided into the following sections:
-) Use of comparison shopping engines (CSEs)
-) Budget and spending
-) Measurement and tracking
-) Ratings of comparison engines
-) Optimising feeds
Highlights from the findings include:
-) Some 21% of retailers surveyed are not currently using any comparison engines to advertise their products on, while a further 16% use just one CSE.
-) Google Shopping / Google Base is the most commonly used comparison engine, utilised by 63% of surveyed retailers.
-) The majority of retailers (59%) are not using online marketplaces to sell their products.
-) Most retailers (74%) manage their CSE feeds in-house, whilst only 13% use specialist feed optimisation companies.
Comparison Shopping Engines Survey Report 2008