Ecommerce Search Race Is On

May 15, 2012

As more people begin to shop online, the e-commerce search engine race intensifies.

According to Reuters article, “EBay, Wal-Mart Search for Revved-Up Search Engines,” both EBay and Wal-Mart are developing new Web search engines to better compete against online giant Amazon. The article reveals that patience runs low with online shoppers, who will switch to a competitor’s site or a physical store if they don’t immediately find what they are looking for. New shopping search technology will focus on a customer’s history and related terms.

“‘Amazon is on version 8.0 of search,’ said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell more online. ‘EBay is at 2.0, but they are thinking about how they make this huge leap to 3.0.’

The stakes are high because e-commerce is a huge, fast-growing market, putting billions of dollars in sales up for grabs. U.S. retail spending online grew 13 percent to $161.5 billion last year, according to comScore. Physical retail sales are much larger, but the sector is struggling to grow and losing share to online operators.”

The race will continue until someone can deliver a high-quality shopping search experience for consumers. Until then, we believe Google and Amazon will continue to reign.

Andrea Hayden, May 15, 2012

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.