Search engine Ask.com has launched a new strategy to differentiate itself from its competitors – by offering a service that indexes online coupons and other offers.
From Tuesday, Ask Deals will create a special page for frugal visitors who are looking for bargains. The bargains it indexes will be taken from sites that specialise in coupons, as well as from retail sites, blogs and bulletin boards.
Ask has a good case for entering the coupons market – according to Inmar Inc, use of online discounts increased by 23% in the first half of 2009. The figures mean that more than 3% of coupons now used are electronic.
Although Ask faces competiton from the likes of Google's Froogle, and Bing's focus on shopping, it believes that aggregating coupons in one place will save consumers time and money – and win it market share.
Even if successful, Ask has a mountain to climb - in September 2009 it had only 2.56% of the US search market. However, if you would like to see your own eCommerce site fare well in all the major search engines, talk to us - we'd be delighted to help.
