Yahoo Shopping Announces Partnership with PriceGrabber

Yahoo sent emails to their merchants today indicating that the Yahoo Product Submit program will close March 11, 2010.  Yahoo Shopping as a destination will continue to exist but will be powered by PriceGrabber. This means if you are advertising on Yahoo Shopping via the Product Submit interface right now, but not on PriceGrabber, and you want your offers to stay live on Yahoo Shopping, you should begin advertising with PriceGrabber to ensure your offers will continue to appear on Yahoo Shopping after March 11.

This is definitely big news in that Yahoo Shopping consistently sits at or near the top of the CSE ComScore rankings as the top receiver of unique visitors. Even though the rate of click through to merchant sites is much lower on Yahoo Shopping than other CSEs, this announcement is still a pretty significant win for PriceGrabber. And though their partner network already includes big names like AOL and CNET, this deal is sure to increase their traffic volume pretty significantly.

It is worth noting, however, that for many retailers, traffic from Yahoo Shopping tends to convert pretty poorly compared to other CSE engines/networks, so it is very possible that come March 11, the conversion rate for existing PriceGrabber advertisers will decline. The quality of the data delivered to Yahoo by PriceGrabber is likely to be higher than that of the data Yahoo was able to collect and organize themselves. It is also possible that the user experience will be changed in a way that could help conversion out, but the most likely root of the lower conversion rate from Yahoo Shopping is simply the intent of their users, which is unlikely to change. So though the user may benefit to some degree by this, the biggest beneficiaries are Yahoo, who no longer has to maintain the back end, and PriceGrabber, who gets the traffic through their network. Which of these two won out the most is unknown as it would depend on the terms of the deal.

From the perspective of the merchant, the complexity goes down a bit as one less feed is required, but an element of control disappears as well. As I mentioned in my last post, many engines don't like discussing their partner network members. They prefer to distribute all content to all partners and only back off when problems arise.

We work with merchants who have shut down their Yahoo Product Submit feeds specifically because of the low conversion rate, and they will now be back on Yahoo Shopping via PriceGrabber, probably facing pretty much the same conversion challenge but with no easy way to completely turn it off.

It's interesting that is happening on the heels of the Yahoo Search Submit Pro shutdown and just over a year after Yahoo sold off Kelkoo. Data feed marketing is clearly not a space in which Yahoo sees a future for themselves.

Original email:

Important: Product Submit changes coming soon. Action required.

Dear Advertiser,

We have important news that will affect your product listings on Yahoo! Shopping and that will require you to take action.

As of March 11, 2010, Yahoo! Shopping is partnering with PriceGrabber. This partnership will provide you with greater access to more potential customers and to enhanced reporting. It will give you the opportunity to list your products either on Yahoo! Shopping only or on both Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber.

Because of this change, your Yahoo! Product Submit account will no longer be available on March 11, 2010. After March 11, 2010, to list your products either on Yahoo! Shopping only or on Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber, you must sign up for a new merchant account with PriceGrabber. To ensure your products are live on Yahoo! Shopping on March 11, 2010, you must sign up for a PriceGrabber merchant account from January 11, 2010, through January 19, 2010. Signing up is fast and easy.

If you sign up before March 11, 2010, any applicable set up fees will be waived!

To start, just click the link below:

Sign up now for a new merchant account with PriceGrabber.

If you do nothing and do not sign up for a new merchant account, your products will only be listed on Yahoo! Shopping through March 11, 2010. After March 11, 2010, your products will no longer be listed.

PLEASE NOTE: If you already have a merchant account with PriceGrabber, you do not need to sign up for a new account. Your products will automatically be listed on both Pricegrabber and Yahoo! Shopping on March 11, 2010.

Your Key Dates to Remember:

January 11, 2010	January 19, 2010	March 11, 2010
Sign up for your new PriceGrabber merchant account with Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber or with just Yahoo! Shopping.	Last day to sign up for a PriceGrabber merchant account to ensure your products are listed on Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber when Yahoo! Product Submit is discontinued on March 11, 2010.	The Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber partnership takes effect. If you have not signed up for a new PriceGrabber merchant account, this is the last day your products will be listed on Yahoo! Shopping.

If you have any questions about this change, a Customer Care representative will be happy to answer them.

Best regards,
The Yahoo! Product Submit team