- allow retailers, both large and small, to advertise online more easily
- help the engines by increasing their advertising base
- help consumers by allowing retailers to communicate a richer set of product information to the engines which would then
- facilitate improved product searching and comparing
January 23 was a momentous day in history. What was said and by whom will have significant, long-term beneficial impact on online advertising. It happened in Atlanta, although not all participants could make it on time due to bad weather at the airport.
Representatives from search engines (Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Become, Shop.com), retailers (Sierra Trading Post, Red Envelope, Bare Necessities, CompUSA, Cutter & Buck, Coldwater, REI), agencies (Rimm-Kaufman Group, Performics, Mercent, Mars) and the NRF (NRF’s ARTS, the Association for Retail Technology Standards) all met to discuss establishing an industry standard for describing products for online SKU-based advertising and the comparison engines.
During the two-hour meeting, retailers and engines alike shared their frustration at the lack of a common platform for describing products and receiving back advertising reports.
The most important outcome of the meeting was the decision to move forward towards an industry standard for describing products online using the expertise and process of the NRF’s ARTS.
The group next plans to meet in Menlo Park on February 27 to begin work on a specification.
This standardization effort is newsworthy for several reasons. Such a standard would:
For more information, check out the ORDS website, soon to roll out at http://www.onlinefeeds.org.
Not live quite yet (as of Feb4), will be up next week and you can sign up to be kept in the email loop about this initiative.
alan