Regarding the new generation CSEs, I would go for Retrevo.com (2.6 Million Unique Visitors/month – alliance w/ PriceGrabber) offering Social Media features & community evaluation for quality/pricing ratio. I would also mention PriceSpider.com providing Social Shopping services, price history graphs, personalized price alerts and a unique section of coupon/deal finders that you generally find on affiliate partners (supported by Digital River since 2009).

The problem for these new entrants is to reach a critical mass (i.e. minimum of 4 Million Unique Visitors/month) by making a partnership with an existing competitor, a leading portal or a Search Engine.

From a merchant perspective, it is already very costly & painful (even using ChannelAdvisor, Channel Intelligence, Singlefeed, etc.) to be integrated with the top 10 players. It is explaining why, they, including become.com, were regrouped in « others » category

To have more details about it, feel free to refer to the original presentation I quickly made on this subject available here: http://www.slideshare.net/MatthieuDejardins/comparison-shopping-engines-study-goals-recommendations-opportunities-to-boost-revenues-by-16-percents

Good questions…
From my understanding, the best way for Comparison Search Engines user profiling in France is to compile the data by yourself. For France, you have a nice list available: http://www.netwee.fr/comparateurs-18961.html.
For demographics, the most reliable source will be the Google AdPlanner – see example for Kelkoo here: http://twitpic.com/sxz8l

Regarding the affiliate networks for Europe and France, you should go for the top 5 platforms: TradeDoubler, Zanox, Netaffiliation, Affilinet (ex Cibleclick), Commission Junction.
Check the top 12 players classified by the Journal du Net here: http://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/crm-marketing/dossier/qui-sont-les-acteurs-du-marche-de-l-affiliation/les-principaux-acteurs.shtml.

Before to make your choice for one or two networks, you need to consider the top 30 affiliates they have within your product category.

I hope this will help.

Rgds,

Matthieu.

Thanks for another excellent post! Do you happen to have this information on Affiliation Programs in Europe and specifically for France?

Also on a related topic, do you have data on profiles of internet users of Price Comparison websites in Europe and France in particular? I believe some studies have been done by EIAA but can’t seem to put my hand on these.

Cheers,
J Daly

I have shared this morning the study I made for Product Shopping Engines. Feel free to check it here: http://dejardins.com/2009/11/24/comparison-shopping-engines-study-goals-recommendations-opportunities-to-boost-revenues-by-16-percents/

Moreover, I will send you an email to help you with your request.

Rgds,

Matthieu.

Congratulations on this blog!

I am currently working on a project in Europe around Price Comparison websites and was wondering whether you have more information on this topic? Do you for instance have a copy of the Econsultancy study you refer to in one of your interesting articles?

Thanks in advance,
Justin

FYI, the podcast is available here: http://www2.webmasterradio.fm/ppc-rockstars/tag/attention-wizard/

Good luck!