DoubleClick, a giant in the banner advertising market, will soon unveil a strategy to establish itself in the e-commerce industry. The shopping and services program will offer e-commerce advertisers a targeted way to reach consumers through syndicated programs across the DoubleClick Network.
The company will create custom, co-branded storefronts that can be promoted within clients' websites. Commerce-oriented text links, will also be available.
The DART (Dynamic Advertising Reporting and Targeting) technology, which serves up banner ads for the company's clients, will be used to handle the system. Select DART clients will be able to participate in DoubleClick Shopping.
"The DoubleClick Shopping program coupled with the DART technology and Network of premium brands gives online merchants a powerful new distribution channel," said DoubleClick Director of E-Commerce Kelly Freeman. "Advertisers will now have the flexibility to merchandise differently on a variety of sites by utilizing DART for maximum marketing control."
The new syndicated storefront model, developed through a partnership with InfoSpace.com, is designed specifically to drive traffic to the online stores of the company's paying customers. Instead of offering merchandise of its own, DoubleClick will offer links to retailers in 17 product categories. Commissions will be split with the sites that direct traffic to the storefronts.
Here's how it works:
- Custom, cobranded storefronts offer links to retailers in 17 product categories.
- Client Web sites place links on their home pages to a certain DoubleClick storefront.
- A potential customer clicks on a link and is taken to a custom storefront created from DoubleClick's servers, which use retail information supplied by InfoSpace.com.
- The customer clicks through to the online store featured on the storefront. The actual purchase is made on the DoubleClick client's site.