I really haven’t dug deep enough to see what’s under the new coat of paint at bizrate, but it’s worth mentioning that the site is definitely repositioning itself around price as opposed to just being a consumer ratings company. From the press releases, bizrate seems to be focusing on value.

The left hand nav bar now focuses on price as opposed to other product attributes that Shopzilla focuses on:

Focusing on value? Seems like a good move for this cash and credit strapped economy.

Looks like Become gave it’s developers Sunday off and launched its holiday section on Monday.

Holiday features of Become include:
-Holiday gift guides
-Black Friday deals
-Free shipping offers
-Holiday shopping tips

Really happy to see one of the shopping engines talking about Black Friday!
The shopping tips section isn’t really about the holidays, but still should be highlighted. Become has a ton of buying guide content. Some of it is there for the search engines, but I also found a lot of valuable information.

Still debating if I should go to Pubcon. If there are enough data feed lovers attending, I’d make the quick trip. Comment or email me (brian at comparisonengines dot com).

Kudos to Yahoo! Shopping to be the first of the major shopping engines to start holiday merchandising! I consider November 1 to be the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Halloween out. Holidays in.

Yahoo! Shopping has a number of great features (new and old) that help consumers make smart buying decisions. I got lost in a sea of buying guides, most popular products lists, expert research, lots of coupons, and more. Will cover in an upcoming post.

Over the summer I wrote about CIT’s potential bankruptcy. While a bailout helped it survive the last quarter, CIT officially filed for Chapter 11 protection today.

CIT is an essential part of the small business world. As we look to the holiday shopping season, if merchants or their supply chain can’t get credit, it’s just going to get ugly out there. CIT’s spin says that the pre-packaged bankruptcy will make everything ok, but I’m not buying the story. And unfortunately, if small businesses look for new lenders, that’s probably not going to be so easy, as this CNBC report hints. Credit market is still way too tight.

Some pundits are starting to project healthy numbers for retailers this holiday shopping season. Yes, I think some retailers will do well, but if you’re only looking at year over year numbers, you’re only getting part of the story. We might not have fallen off a second cliff – and that is something to cheer – but we also aren’t going to be celebrating like it’s 2007.

If you use Yahoo! Store and want some introductory info about data feeds, reviews, and email marketing, Fast Pivot is running a webinar which starts at 10am PT today. SingleFeed, PowerReviews, and Top Right will be presenting.

Basic, but good foundational information.

If you use Yahoo! as your ecommerce platform, sign up now.

Oh, and by the way, Yahoo! has been running some foundational webinars to get their merchants ready for the holidays.

All things considered, how do you feel about the upcoming holiday season?
In a text poll of the audience (retailers, vendors, and everyone in between) at the keynote, 62% are optimistic, 28% are pessimistic, and 10% are neutral.

SingleFeed will be at Shop.org so there will be lots of opportunities to talk data feeds!
1. Make sure to attend the 40+ Specific Things You can do session on Tuesday @ 3:15pm. It’ll be an awesome session with a TON of specific tactics for improving your sales. I’ll be speaking specifically about Google Product Search.
2. I’ll be hosting a round table on Wed @ 4pm about driving conversion on Google Product Search. I know, last session on the last day, but an intimate crowd usually means a great opportunity to dig into specific issues.
3. Ryan Douglas, Simon Mutlu, and myself have lots of meetings already scheduled, but we’d love to meet with any retailers to review your feeds, answer any questions about data feeds, show you SingleFeed’s awesome new reporting system (coming next month!), or just catch up. Just email me at brian@singlefeed.com or call/txt my cell: 310-699-2456. I’ll be there Sunday afternoon – Wed night.

Look forward to seeing everyone!
-brian

Budgets have been slashed left and right. All merchants are trying to save money. Every dollar saved can make a difference.

I therefore wanted to offer 1 US based merchant a free round trip flight on JetBlue to Shop.org’s upcoming Annual Summit in Vegas. Shop.org is a great conference which offers a valuable opportunity for merchants to learn, grow, and network.

So, if you’re interested in a free flight, check out JetBlue.com to make sure they service your area, then send me an email at brian@singlefeed.com with your departure city and why you want to attend Shop.org.

Thanks!
-b

If you want some quick, actionable tactics for succeeding online this holiday shopping season, attend my Webinar, sponsored by Marin Software and hosted by Search Marketing Now.

The Webinar will cover a couple areas for internet marketing optimization: PPC Campaign, Comparison Shopping, Email Marketing, Analytics/Reporting, Conversion Rate, etc.

The Webinar is next Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 10AM PDT.  Register today!