AskJeeves as Froogle-Killer

Almost lost in the buzz of IAC's announcement that they were going to purchase AskJeeves for US$1.9 billion, comes the simultaneous announcement that they were going to launch their second attempt at shopping, Gifts.com.

One of the opportunities they get is helping to direct traffic, About.com-style, to AskJeeves. AskJeeves is the technical leader in helping consumers drill down to results. What they've not been able to do is educate consumers how to search - the average search query is 2.5 words long. It may be helpful to think of Gifts.com as a search term configuration tool.

On the other hand, one of the big opportunities that all of these sites seem to be missing is an understanding of how people buy luxury goods. To help make that case, I've put together a review of the new Gifts.com site, including screenshots, similar to an earlier review of the A9 launch.

I think Barry Diller is betting close to $2 billion that Gifts.com will allow them to leapfrog the much less focused, much less retail friendly Froogle - and pre-empt MSN's nascent AdCenter. This is the perfect time to do it. By confining the beta to markets like France and Singapore for the next six months, MSN may lose some momentum heading into the hugely important 2005 holiday season. As a result of today's purchase, no other infrastructure will likely be as effective as the AskJeeves/Gifts.com combo at directing retail-specific traffic during the holiday season.

Link: Gifts.com Review