Yahoo entered the comparison shopping engine market with Yahoo Shopping, a full featured comparison shopping site with extra functionality compared to Google Product Search.  In addition to the site, Yahoo markets the Yahoo Shopping API, a software protocol, to others who develop shopping sites and portals.

Shop Yahoo

Yahoo Shopping is different from other comparison engines - it’s a cross between a comparison engine and a shopping portal.  It lists the searched item by price, so people can compare and select the best prices.  But, in addition, it lists items by department and uses graphics at the top of the page, like stores use end of aisle displays, pushing selected sales and other deals.

Shoppers select items from menus, or enter item names in the search bar at the top of the page.  Yahoo lists results, sorted by various criteria such as price.

A shoe search on Yahoo and Yahoo Shopping results in different listings.

• Yahoo - the first ten links it presents are various stores selling shoes.
• Yahoo Shopping - zeros in on specific shoes, listing them by price or other criteria.

So while the shopper finds shoes on Yahoo, they still search further for specific brands and shoes.  Yahoo Shopping shows the specific shoes in fewer clicks, and compares prices for quicker shopping.

Comparisons and Reviews

Yahoo Shopping also offers additional information such as buying guides and product reviews.  These offer shoppers additional on other features, not just price, when they make their product decisions.  The experience Yahoo Shopping offers is similar to the Google Product Search experience, but presented the same elements stores and review sites offer.

The API

For people who make their own stores, Yahoo Shopping offers assistance that greatly reduces time, effort, and cost. 

• Yahoo Shopping lets people build their own store based on product listings from the Yahoo Shopping site.  Yahoo Shopping provides all the back end features including product information entry, tracking, credit card processing, and analytics - store success measures.
• Yahoo Shopping API’s are individual functions marketed to merchants who want the functionality for their store sites.  These include product search, product reviews, and even paid referrals.

Yahoo Shopping offers more features than most comparison shopping sites, and with its API’s and build a store features offers a full product range for merchants.

Categories: Glossary
Tags: analytics, comparison engines, comparison shopping engine, comparison shopping engines, cse's, google, google product search, product search, shopping portal, shopping sites, yahoo