Word: aol
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...landscape is still shifting as retailers try to track consumer behavior. Here's a twist: while mega-portals attract boatloads of shoppers--Yahoo, MSN and AOL (owned by the same corporate parent as TIME) rank among the 10 most visited shopping sites, according to ComScore Media Metrix--consumers don't usually think of them as shopping sites, notes Carrie Johnson, e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research. In fact, Web users often land in a portal's shopping area by accident, attracted by an ad that appears as they are using e-mail or checking sports scores. While reading about Tiger...
...exposure, they know that they are ultimately responsible for making sales. "If Yahoo sends me 1,000 customers and I can't close the deals, then that's my fault," he says. The $3 million that Overstock spent last year to promote products on Yahoo Shopping, MSN Shopping and AOL Shopping together generated a quarter of the company's $120 million in consumer sales, Byrne says. Overstock doesn't share revenue with any portals...
...revenue-sharing deals, it prefers dollars for clicks because of the greater predictability of the revenue, says Jim Barr, MSN Shopping's general manager. A typical deal might generate 25[cents] per click for a guaranteed 8 million clicks a year, or $2 million from a single merchant. Similarly, AOL's shopping area will expose you to only about 250 merchants, mainly leaders in their categories...
This isn't necessarily a bad thing for consumers, so long as they're aware of it and know the alternatives (see box). The major online retailers have buying power that often means lower prices plus brand familiarity and track records that provide comfort. AOL offers a satisfaction guarantee and will act as an intermediary in disputes in which it believes the retailer and the customer have exhausted other avenues. (Yahoo in some cases provides refunds...
They sign on to AOL Instant Messenger chat rooms on Friday and Saturday nights when the league action is particularly tense, and update each other on scores. They play pick-’em games weekly...