Most retailers struggle with the promotion of their catalog through Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs) through data feed optimization.  Far too many expect comparison shopping to convert as well as search, with referred customers as likely to immediatley purchase, yet, evidence continues to mount that comparison shopping is aptly named: A means for your customers to shop, compare, and consider what to buy before making a purchase.

Last year, Revenue reiterated comScore research citing that 75 percent of consumer electronics comparison shoppers were merely window shopping, 25 percent did buy within the next 90 days though only 10 percent bought online. Hardly supporting an argument that retailers should expect direct sales from CSEs. 

So how do retailers, publishers, and manufacturers leverage this vertical search platform to support latent and indirect sales? Comparison shopping engines manage their own catalog of products.  The accuracy and comprehensiveness of that catalog is one of the most important considerations.

Let’s assume you are sending the best possible product feed to Shopping.com and BizRate and consumers can (and do) find your products when they search the CSE.  Product Search is an important part of the value these engines provide but fundamentally, comparison shopping engines optimize the customers’ experience to comparison of products and prices. To support that, CSEs diligently maintain a catalog of products with each sku visible to you through a “Product Page,” “Buyer’s Guide,” or “Product Detail Page.”  Those product pages, their pages, are promoted more prominently in Product Search than your own products so that consumers are presented with product listings through which they can then compare merchant offers.  Your listing, from your datafeed, usually falls below those results (if at all); the customer will likely never find you through search.  As such, your goal is to ensure your skus map with their own so that you appear as a merchant of said product.

Consider this search result from Shopzilla.  Each of the products listed there is from Shopzilla’s catalog, not because a merchant sells that product.  Stores only benefit if they appear on the product page as a vendor.  Fail to map to their data structure and you don’t appear.  There are two things of which you should be aware:

1. Your product data must match their product data
You would expect the industry know and use the exact same UPC, SKU, and Part Number for every unique product.  The reality is that international variations, derivatives, and just plain bad data, corrupt the alignment of your catalog with theirs.  Your SKU may actually be different than what they have for the exact same product.  Work with your vendor/agency to ensure they are optimizing your feed to translate product data to the format the CSE expects.  Don’t assume your UPC codes are those that you need to have to show up on BizRate.

Sure, you could argue the CSE should change their data to align with yours (assuming yours is considered the industry standard) but trust me, such an expectation is like moving a mountain. 

2. CSEs’ catalogs are not flawless
Most CSEs manage that catalog by cobbling together data from product data vendors and their own staff of editors.  That practice is prone to error and you will find inaccurate product data and entirely missing skus.  When that happens, it doesn’t matter if your datafeed is optimized, your products won’t be marketed effectively to customers.

Consider your feed with only 2 skus:
1. Green Widget (654qwe) for $99

2. Blue Widget (321rty) for $75

You have ensured titles are accurate and include a call to action, descriptions are keyword rich, and promotions and offers flow freely. Unbeknownced to you, the CSE doesn’t have SKU 321rty in their catalog (OR they have it as 321rty_a).

Customers will be able to search for and find your Blue Widget only if they already know of and are looking for it.  Without the SKU in their catalog, a CSE can’t promote it (editorially) nor is it available for comparison against similar products.   Consumers simply shopping widgets likely won’t find your blue choice because the other types, those in the CSE catalog, appear first.  The sku will not receive as much visibility nor traffic from the CSE and you will be asking why your competitive pricing, aggressive offer, and optimized feed are not delivering results.

Make no mistake, these considerations and their challenges are not limited to my consumer electronics industry.  While not all product types are catalogued by CSEs, hard good, some clothing, and certainly, books, music, DVD, and video game retailers should talk with the CSEs:

• Screen their catalogs for your top selling products and look for Product Pages on the CSE
• Understand how their catalog is managed and kept up to date
• Work to map your product data to what the CSE expects
• Demand more of the CSE. As a brand, you have some weight to throw around in expecting comparison shopping engines feature your products. You should find that Comparison Shopping sites are anxious and more than willing to help ensure their catalog is comprehensive and accurate.