Google's shopping site differs from competitors
With Google expected to go public next year, its entry into the lucrative ecommerce sector should better convince investors of its viability as a standalone business, according to this New York Times story (registration required):
The Froogle site says it intends to make money by selling advertising above and to the right of the shopping search results, as Google does on its main site.
Online stores find that paying shopping sites to list their products is among the best ways to attract shoppers. DealTime, for example, expects $30 million in revenue this year, double last year's pace. DealTime and BizRate are among Google's biggest advertisers; they use ads on searches by Google users for product names to lure people to their sites. They are paid as they send users off to stores.