ValueClick, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: VCLK) PriceRunner, a leading European comparison shopping service, announced today that they have been chosen by MSN as the primary provider of price comparison content for their shopping channel in the UK and France.The agreement commenced on October 1, in time for the start of the Christmas shopping season.
This long term agreement is the first pan-European deal of its kind for the PriceRunner businesses, which also has operations in U.S., Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Austria.
The information that PriceRunner will supply will mean that MSN Shopping in each market can provide their users with millions of prices on just over a million products. PriceRunner will be supplying MSN with pricing, product and reviews data on a wide variety of products mainly within consumer goods and electronics including clothing and accessories, health and beauty, TVs and digital cameras, MP3 players and laptops, fridges and freezers, mobile phones and video games.
John Brewer, Director of Shopping for MSN across Europe, said
“PriceRunner’s infrastructure, experience and quality, makes them a great choice for MSN to work with. We will focus on technology development and moving beyond comparison shopping as it is conceived today. Having a well established provider in comparison shopping means we can develop faster, in a marketplace that all analysts report is poised for double-digit growth each year”
Online retailing is becoming more and more popular – European online spend is forecast to grow to €117 Billion by 2010(1), and MSN reaches 17.1million unique consumers in the UK and 14.2m in France each month, according to Nielsen//NetRatings August 2006, which places them as the 2nd-leading internet site in both those countries, respectively.
Carl White, Chief Executive Officer at ValueClick Europe, PriceRunner’s parent company said:
“Being selected by MSN to provide their price comparison content is a fantastic endorsement of the credibility of PriceRunner, and underlines why we already have millions of happy users in Europe. With this new partnership we will be expanding our reach to a wider audience and will be helping MSN to provide a great shopping experience to internet users.”
(1) Forrester Research Europe’s eCommerce Forecast, June 2006.
