Accoona Gets Ready to Go Public(2)

2007-09-03 13:33:57 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

Increased traffic

The success of this new approach to search engines is nowhere clearer than in the increasing traffic that can be witnessed on the news search page of Accoona's European portal, accoona.eu, launched in June 2006. The company's partnership with Dun & Bradstreet, a leading provider of global business information, has also enabled the package of articles from newspapers, magazines, press releases, trade journals, niche publications, blogs, and broadcast media in Accoona's news search index to be enriched with a constantly evolving, up-to-date business information and data, spread over dozens of thematic fields.

E-commerce

Accoona's strategy in building a strong base of well-informed Internet users is also built around its e-commerce business, mostly in the field of consumer electronics. Accoona now operates six Internet retail websites, an attractive industry in rapid growth where the company holds a strong market position: in 2006, the combined revenues of Accoona's businesses in the field made Accoona one of the top 10 consumer-direct electronics retailers in North America by online revenue, and one of the top 55 consumer electronics retailers overall (according to TWICE's list, "Top 100 CE Retailers").

Multifolded strategy

The ultra competitive world of search engines is harsh and sometimes challenging, and companies like Accoona need to build on alternative, multifolded business strategies to lure users, for example via competitive pricing or by offering fair consumer information. The acquisition by Accoona of several e-commerce companies such as butterfly.com was a clever move, a guarantee not to be swallowed from the upstart by Internet monsters like Google. These e-commerce acquisitions were a way for the company to gain time and reinforce its position, whilst developing other business lines such as Exchange Place or Accoona's Business and News Search, which are now fully operational. As a result, Accoona is now in a position to face the strength of the competition in a world of giants like Google, Yahoo or MSN, which are already listed in the public market.

Exchange Place

Perhaps the most original and creative feature of this strategy is Accoona's Exchange Place, one of the first cross-industry online advertising platform and pay-per-lead bidding system. The success of online lead generation was proven by several online-based lead generation companies for specific sectors, such as home mortage lending and automobile sales. But Exchange Place's added value comes from the fact that it is designed to be a marketplace where consumers are matched with competing providers of a variety of goods and services across the range of all industry sectors, creating a comprehensive, multi-channel approach to marketing. "While the pay-per-click advertising model has served the online ad industry well, Exchange Place will offer the ultimate cost-per-action solution," Mr. Zammit said. Indeed, by May 31, 2007, Exchange Place had signed up major national advertiser accounts, including Prudential Insurance, Unitirm Direct, General Electric Insurance, making it clear that this strategy was succeeding.

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