E-commerce to remain a niche

UK Internet providers, KeConnect, said on Monday that “a new online service, AskTheLocal!, combines the best of online retail with shopping locally by allowing buyers to source goods in their area. Having compared prices online, consumers can purchase products from ‘bricks and mortar’ shops instead of waiting for delivery.”

Interestingly, the article is about how successful online shopping is proving to be this year in the UK. Online shopping is increasing in the UK, but it remains a niche (still less than 10% of all retail sales according to estimates for 2006), and as local-shopping search spreads, we predict online shopping will level off, or even drop. Consider IMRG’s May 2006 report that highlighted how 90% of UK Internet users research their products online, but then proceed to purchase the item offline.

Greg Sterling details why e-commerce will remain a niche in his discussion of US local-shopping search NearbyNow.

Also on Monday, the AskTheLocal! press-wire story, “UK’s First Local-Shopping Search Torpedoes Online Shopping”, was featured on the Financial Times site (Subscription Only).

The full release was on WallStreet:Online (Germany), and Sys-con.

AskTheLocal! word spreads

Whitaker Associates, who focus on the converging and evolving Directory and Search Services (DSS) marketplace, says this today “AskTheLocal.com is a new UK-based local shopping search engine that allows shoppers to find product information, photos, and prices from multiple bricks-and-mortar retailers and then travel to the nearest shop to buy the product directly. This saves having to wait for online delivery, or traveling between different retailers to find a particular product.”

More

Also see yesterday’s ‘AskTheLocal! in the news’ 

Suggest a product for AskTheLocal!

The AskTheLocal! local-shopping search engine wants to hear about your favourite products that should be listed on the site. If we get requests for a product, we can contact the manufacturers/retailers involved.

You can comment below with the details.  Note: you don’t need to leave your name, e-mail or web address.

Suggest a shop for AskTheLocal!

The AskTheLocal! local shopping search engine provides a referral program that offers an ongoing royalty of 10% of the revenue from a retailer to the person or organization who successfully referred the retailer to AskTheLocal!. For more details see ‘Local shopping search owned by the community’ .

If you want to informally suggest a shop we should include, you can comment below with the details. Please include as much contact information as possible.  Note: you don’t need to leave your name, e-mail or web address.

AskTheLocal! in the news

Experts on search, SearchEngineWatch’s Phil Bradley wrote a review of AskTheLocal!.

This was followed by Greg Sterling who commented here about the development. Greg is a US-based local search specialist who covers the topic.

Graham Charlton from E-consultancy, the UK’s leading online internet marketing site posted an interview which explains some further details about AskTheLocal! and where the site has come from.

Some things to address in case there is any confusion – AskTheLocal! does link through to retailers directly on each product and it is the main link. The retailer’s web-page is usually the point of entry for that product.

And Paula, 33, wants to add that she did finish her Masters in economics but “stopped her PhD program, much to her mother’s chagrin”. I’m also not married to Paula, in case that could be taken the wrong way!

Peter

AskTheLocal! Want Your Feedback

We’re keen to hear about your experiences on AskTheLocal!, the UK’s first local shopping search. Tell us the good and the bad by commenting below to help us improve. Your feedback is vital for enhancing the service.

If you want to talk to us privately, you can see our official contact page.

Remember to include your search terms if relevant. Note: you don’t need to leave your name, e-mail or web address.

Switching blog providers to WordPress

Since we can’t edit our site on blogger.com due to a server being down, we were prompted to change to WordPress. I’m just testing out the functionality, so bear with me. Our old blog was at blogger. All the information has now been transferred successfully.
I do prefer the functionality of this service so far – I recommend them.

In terms of how you read this blog, the links have become easier to follow, allowing you to see the most recent posts from any page, and we’ve now got some explanation for whole blog. The commenting system is embedded in the page also.

Bloggers enhance local shopping search results

Another application for blogs has been introduced on the local shopping search AskTheLocal!. The ‘prodblog’, provides the blogosphere’s opinion of each product listed on the search results page.

This adds a sense of certainty before tripping down to the local shop to buy a product. There are many shopping sites with some form of review link, but a blog is independent, and media rich e.g. bloggers can post photos or videos of how the product works in the real world. This means that bloggers from anywhere can comment on the products listed, and local shoppers in the UK will be able to compare the experiences in using those products before buying.

Due to the immediate indexing of a blog and because it is international, the comments will appear on other shopping sites that offer a prodblog link, and could be a good source of search engine traffic for bloggers in future.

You can try prodblogs by searching for a product on AskTheLocal! and then clicking the ‘See prodblogs’ link underneath the result.

To write about a particular product, use any of the main blogging engines e.g. Google’s Blogger and mention the product name in the title of the blog. This should appear on AskTheLocal! after a few minutes.

The AskTheLocal! voice of experience talks

She may be new to the AskTheLocal! team, but my niece Raina knows a good thing when she sees one.

UK local shopping search feed available for portals

Kiosks, wireless and web portals in the UK can now integrate a local shopping search into their offerings. Picture yourself in a shopping mall or on the High Street, and being able to find out where to buy the ‘nike shoes’ you are desperate for, using a computer kiosk or mobile phone. Instantly, pictures and prices of the item are displayed, letting you know which shops — closest to where you are standing — are selling what you are looking for, along with maps of how to get there. How convenient is that?!

Greg Sterling detailed on SearchEngineWatch the exciting possibilities this represents for portal owners, and the high conversion rates that can be expected.

The AskTheLocal! feed is available in XML on a shared-revenue basis. This means that whatever traffic driven by the portal resulting in pay-per-click revenue, will be shared between the portal and AskTheLocal!.

If, for example, the portal would like to list and search all shops in a particular shopping mall, the portal owner has two opportunities to generate an ongoing revenue stream. Firstly, the owner can convince the retailers to list their products on AskTheLocal!, which leads to an ongoing Referrer Royalty, and exposure throughout their local area for the retailer. Secondly, the actual access to this local information on a kiosk, or wi-fi home-page generates a further revenue share from the leads generated.

For the techies, here’s how you can try out the XML feed:

1. Carry out a search on AskTheLocal!
2. In the URL box, replace ‘atl.pl’ with ‘lpf.pl’
e.g search for nike shoes as an XML feed

For more information please contact us.