Bing Shopping
Developer(s)Microsoft
Stable release
Final / August, 2017
TypeSearch engine
Websitehttp://www.bing.com/shop

Bing Shopping (formerly MSN Shopping, Windows Live Shopping, Live Search Products and Windows Live Product Search) is a products search and discovery service that helps save time by bringing products from multiple sellers together on a single website. It uses Bing to show product results–including photos and product details. Products can be filtered and prices compared. Purchases are completed on the seller's website.

Discontinued around October 1, 2013,[1] it was relaunched in August 2017 using a paid model where merchants pay to list their products on the service using Bing Ads Product Ads.

History

A screenshot of Windows Live Shopping homepage

Windows Live Shopping was originally launched in Beta form as part of Microsoft's Windows Live suite. It was built entirely on AJAX technology and had many social and community features. In addition to a retail shopping website, it featured drag-and-drop items to a shopping list, share lists with other users, product and seller reviews, public shopping guides with Windows Live Shopping Guides and an enhanced preview.

On February 20, 2007, Windows Live Shopping beta was rebranded as MSN Shopping. Part of the reason for this decision was to reduce the number of shopping services Microsoft offered, which included MSN Shopping, Windows Live Expo and Live Product Search. Microsoft's spokesperson stated that the beta testing was intended to obtain an insight into user behavior and the data would be incorporated into plans for future products. It was stated that user-created content from Windows Live Shopping beta (lists, guides, and reviews) would continue to be available on MSN Shopping.[1] Windows Live Shopping Guides was discontinued as part of the rebranding.

As MSN Shopping, the service aggregated millions of product offers from thousands of retailers, allowing users to search or browse for products. Searches could be sorted by relevance, popularity or by price (either ascending or descending). Refinements were available to allow the user to narrow the results set.[2][3][4][5]

On August 23, 2013, Bing announced[6] that it would replace Bing Shopping with Product Search which integrates product results within Bing search results instead of linking to a separate webpage.

Cashback program

See also: Microsoft Rewards
A screenshot of Bing Cashback homepage

Bing Cashback was a loyalty program which allowed users to search for products from multiple vendors and find their prices and offering money back for purchases made through the site. It was originally started in June 2006 by Jellyfish.com.[7] On October 2, 2007, Microsoft announced it was purchasing Jellyfish.com for an estimated price of $50 million,[8][9] with the intent of using the Jellyfish engine as part of their Live Search services in attempt to catch up to Google in the search market.[10]

The cashback service was officially announced as Live Search Cashback on May 22, 2008. From December 1, 2008, it began offering users to receive cashbacks instantly, instead of having to wait for 60 days. This feature only worked in conjunction with eBay.[11]

Microsoft officially merged Cashback with the rest of the Live Search products on April 14, 2009,[12] later renaming it to Bing Cashback on June 3, 2009, as part of its rebranding of Live Search to Bing. On June 4, 2010, Microsoft announced that Bing Cashback would be retired on July 30, 2010, due to lack of interest.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Windows Live Shopping no more - MSN Shopping to remain". LiveSide. February 19, 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007.
  2. ^ Carr, Lisa (14 November 2005). "MSN Shopping Adds Comparison Shopping". Direct Marketing. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  3. ^ Rothberg, Deborah (21 July 2005). "Testers Check Out MSN Shopping Portal Beta 2". PC Magazine.
  4. ^ Gupta, Shankar (29 November 2006). "MSN Shopping Surges 21% Thanksgiving Weekend". Media Post.
  5. ^ Kane, Michelle (13 June 2005). "PriceGrabber.com Announces Strategic Alliance with MSN; PriceGrabber's Alliance with MSN Provides Consumers Expanded Selection on MSN Shopping". Business Wire.
  6. ^ "Find it Faster with Bing Product Search". Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  7. ^ Worthy, Buzz (July 1, 2007). "At This Auction Site, Prices (on Chickens, iPods, Etc.) Are Going, Going Down". Washington Post. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  8. ^ "Microsoft acquires Jellyfish.com". Official blog of Live Search team. October 2, 2007. Archived from the original on February 23, 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  9. ^ "Microsoft buys Jellyfish comparison-shopping search engine". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. October 1, 2007. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  10. ^ "Microsoft adds cashback search". BBC News Online. BBC. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  11. ^ "You asked for it: instant cashback!". Live Search team blog. Microsoft. December 1, 2008. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008.
  12. ^ "Saving Money Just Got a Little Bit Easier". Bing Blog. Microsoft. April 15, 2009.
  13. ^ "A Farewell to Bing cashback". Bing Blog. Microsoft. June 4, 2010.

External links

Microsoft Bing
Categories