Most of us tend to focus and use Google Search. Microsoft’s recent news of its release of Kumo (not sure why its called that?) may shift a bit of that focus, at least as it concerns to products and shopping based search. The total number of US searches in April 2009 increased 4.4% year-over-year, with Google leading the pack with the #1 search-provider spot when ranked by total searches, according to Nielsen Online. MarketingCharts reports that Google captured 5.5 billion total searches, or 64% of all search queries conducted during the month.
Yahoo Search ranked #2, but declined 2.8% Year-over-year. MSN/Windows Live was #3. Windows Live Cashback Program is credited with MSN’s exponential growth. It also seems to be part of their strategy and why they most likely purchased the social comparison shopping site, Ciao in ‘08.
While Google still drives the majority of traffic to major e-commerce sites, Nielsen Online reported that MSN/Windows Live Shopping Search has been a notable fast-mover in the shopping search category, which also is tracked by Nielsen:
Searches on shopping-specific engines only comprise between one and two percent of total search activity, but MSN/Windows Live Search saw a 615% increase in total visitors and was the fastest growing shopping search provider in April. This increase is, in part, because of the popular and well-received Live Search Cashback program, in which the Microsoft promises to pay consumers back for purchasing products their search engine helped find.
Most importantly MSN/Windows Live also has performed efficiently in translating searchers into customers. It still remains to be seen how this shopping search focus will benefit Peer-to-Peer shopping search and Shopit users and general. We do know that Microsoft’s Kumo is a revamped engine based on enhancements in video and images (this is where it helps the user-generated products and content users place on their P2P platforms) to provide a more universal approach and semantic technology demonstrates that consumers are ready for something new, according to sources who asked for anonymity. The search engine also will likely integrate technology from the natural-language search company Powerset, which Microsoft acquired last year.
“If it’s as good as it looks in the demo, this will be the most impressive search experience Microsoft has offered,” says David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy at 360i. “The focus is on the right areas such as organic results, layout and advertising.”
Berkowitz, one of the chosen few outside of analysts and Microsoft employees to get a briefing, took extreme precautions to select every word in describing his experience. He couldn’t speak to the difference in the way that Microsoft will serve up relevant ads in paid search campaigns, but did reveal that it has been a focus for the team with the launch of the new engine. “Historically, one problem for Microsoft has been serving up relevant ads,” he says. “They haven’t been as relevant as they could be. But I’ve see firsthand they are trying to fix that.”
The site appears to have an emphasis on filtering data and ecommerce that would give consumers product-related information such as inventory in stock and prices at specific retail stores. A search for “iPhone” would also return links to download apps, for example. The left side of the search query will display a navigation column that shows related searches, search history and filtering options.
Microsoft views search as an important piece to the company’s business, but Nielsen Online reported that the Redmond, Wash., company held a mere 9.9% of the U.S. search market, compared with 16.3% for Yahoo and 64% for Google.
With rumors of a user generated ad platform and more emphasis put on images and video Kumo may be a place for micro-sellers to look for advertising their products and services in the future.
Images provided by MarketingCharts
Tags: ciao shopping search, Google search, Kumo, microsoft live search, shopit shopping, shopping search