Comparison shopping results delivered by MSN in France and the United Kingdom will arrive from PriceRunner, which is part of online advertising firm ValueClick.
MSN rated as the second-largest site for both the UK and France, according to Nielsen//NetRatings as cited by Adotas in the announcement of the PriceRunner deal.
That traffic will see price comparisons delivered by PriceRunner for products like digital cameras, watches, and other items. PriceRunner lists items by lowest price first, from online and offline retailers, and they claim to have the broadest price comparison.
Although PriceRunner has offered separate versions of its site in a few countries like France and the UK, the MSN deal will be their first multi-national agreement. It arrives just as the end-of-year shopping season begins in earnest.
MSN Europe sees comparison shopping as an important component to its intent to build up their sites as destinations for shoppers:
“PriceRunner’s infrastructure, experience and quality makes them a great choice for MSN to work with,” said John Brewer, Director of Shopping for MSN across Europe.
“We will focus on technology development and moving beyond comparison shopping as it is conceived today. Having a well established provider in comparison shopping means we can develop faster, in a marketplace that all analysts report is poised for double-digit growth each year.”
PriceRunner has only operated in the United States for a little over a year. They are expanding operations by adding premier retailers to their listings.
The most recent leading online retailers to select PriceRunner as a strategic shopping search partner include Circuit City, Office Depot, Home Depot, PC Mall, Newegg.com, Toshiba, Apple, JC Penney, Skechers and the Home Shopping Network, PriceRunner announced last week.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.