Shopping search engine DealTime has successfully completed its acquisition of online consumer reviews and ratings platform Epinions. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, the now combined brands rank as the fifth largest online shopping destination in the US. The combined entity is now known as DealTime Ltd. and continues to operate www.dealtime.com, www.epinions.com, www.shopping.com and www.dealtime.co.uk, as well as the many co-branded network sites it runs on behalf of search engines, portals and Internet service providers.
The merger integration combines more than one million consumer reviews and ratings with advanced search technology and easy-to-use shopping tools to help shoppers make smarter buying decisions.
"We are very pleased to have successfully integrated the Epinions team. We have rapidly deployed Epinions' trusted consumer reviews and ratings across our network while making thousands of additional merchants accessible to Epinions' users," said Dan Ciporin, CEO and Chairman of DealTime. "We are delivering on our mission to help consumers become smart shoppers while offering merchants a superior means of customer acquisition."
Small and mid-sized businesses also can now take advantage of DealTime's new Epinions Merchant Survey program, which enables merchants to get real-time customer feedback. Still in beta, the program works by enabling merchants to integrate the Epinions surveys with their own sites, and allow consumers to rate their experience or products and make suggestions immediately following the completion of a sale. Merchants can also customize the surveys in order to gather input on specific aspects of the purchasing process. Detailed consumer reviews and ratings have proven to help increase conversion-to-sale ratios for participating merchants. According to Nirav Tolia, DealTime's COO and Epinions co-founder, more than 300 merchants have already joined the program.
It's no secret that consumers rely heavily on the Internet to help them compare prices, product features and merchant reputations. Therefore, online merchants are finding shopping search engines to be the most effective way to attract qualified buyers that convert into sales. "The Epinions Merchant surveys are generating a high rate of response, which we attribute to the surveys' customizable content and short length," said Bryan Lewis, a long-standing DealTime customer as Managing Partner with FJA Products (www.fjaproducts.com). "The real-time feedback is invaluable and we see this program as an important way to continue to increase our click-to-sale ratio."
The Epinions Merchant Survey program is slated to launch officially in June. To enroll in the program, or for more information, please write to: surveys@dealtime.com.
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
