'Net Features : milo

eBay's New Focus About Keeping it Local

Linc Wonham — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:59:00 GMT

We weren't kidding when we said all eyes should be on eBay, especially those of local merchants. With inventory powered by the recent acquisition of local shopping search engine Milo, the site now offers consumers a one-stop destination for deals both online and in local stores.

The new features allow shoppers to check product and merchandise availability at local retailers via real-time searches on eBay. Through Milo integration, consumers have greater choices with access to millions of products from approximately 50,000 stores across all 50 U.S. states.

In addition, eBay is providing retailers who use QuickBooks a way to easily upload their inventory onto Milo and eBay through a new inventory management plug-in.

“eBay is uniquely positioned to help retailers, large and small, compete globally in new ways and to help consumers shop for whatever they want – anytime, anywhere,” says Dane Glasgow, the company’s vice president of global product management. “By integrating Milo search into eBay.com, we are exposing the inventory of small entrepreneurs who may be invisible on the Web right now to more than 94 million active users of the eBay marketplace. Our local capabilities are enabling a new kind of commerce, connecting eBay shoppers to local merchants.”

By opting in, eBay shoppers can now use a new local shopping tab to check a product’s local or in-store availability directly from the eBay search results page. Product pages now also include a local shopping tab so shoppers can find the exact product they want whether it’s online e at a local retailer near them.

The company is also introducing new software from Milo that helps small- to mid-size retailers easily integrate their offline merchandise onto Milo and eBay. Beginning with retailers who use QuickBooks point-of-sale systems, this software will allow independent retailers to upload their local inventory through a one-time, simple installation and will automatically share the real-time availability of their products with eBay’s 94 million active users globally, whether on eBay.com, eBay’s RedLaser mobile barcode-scanning application or Milo’s affiliate partner sites.

Combined with this week's $2.4 billion acquisition of GSI Commerce, the heightened focus on local commerce gives eBay some real ammunition against Amazon for the first time in recent memory.

Local Products Startup Milo Purchased by eBay

E-Commerce Express : feature — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:05:00 GMT

E-commerce giant eBay struck a significant deal Thursday, purchasing startup local product inventory search engine Milo.com for a reported $75 million. There has been a lot of recent attention given to the growing importance of local commerce –...(read more)

Android App Turns Mobile Users into Local Buyers

Linc Wonham — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:34:00 GMT

Local merchants have never had so many friends on the Web as they do today. From heavyweights like Google and Facebook to countless startups all over the world, companies everywhere are helping consumers find what they need right in their own neighborhoods.

One such company is Milo.com, which has just announced a new Android app for local shopping. The only such app available in the Android market, it is designed to search the inventories of local stores to inform consumers what items are in stock at which stores and at what prices.

The real-time local inventory tracking app uses the geo-location technology that has helped put the local Web on the map. A powerful new tool for shoppers on the go, the app identifies a user’s location and returns products and prices from the inventories of retailers based on GPS coordinates.

It’s also an indispensable tool for local merchants to attract customers to their stores. Milo’s mission is to build and take ownership of the bridge between online browsing and in-store buying. The “research-online, shop-offline” market is projected to reach $1 trillion in 2011, and Milo is staking its claim on a share of those revenues.

The company currently has nearly 3 million products listed in more than 50,000 stores, representing over 30,000 local communities across the U.S. Milo.com receives more than one million monthly unique visitors and its database is growing by nearly 200,000 new products each month.

With more emphasis being put on local search and the influx of local deals providers and location-based services, Milo is just one of many companies today in position to benefit local merchants.