NexTag

Nextag was an independent price comparison service website for products, travel, and education.[1] It started originally as a website where buyers and sellers could negotiate prices for computers and electronics products. Since 2000, the current business model has focused on comparison shopping.[2] NexTag also owns Hamburg, Germany based Guenstiger.de. It provides unique and accurate functionality of tracking historical prices of a product across various sellers.[3]

Nextag, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryComparison shopping
Founded1999
Headquarters
Redwood Shores, California
,
United States
Number of employees
350+ (2016)
WebsiteNextag.com

In June 2007, Providence Equity Partners purchased a two-thirds majority of the company.[4] Los Angeles based private equity firm Regent purchased the company in March 2015.

Nextag provides merchants with various services including automated ROI tracking system, promotional messaging platform for easy implementation of voucher codes and marketing messages, and Buyer Reviews and Trusted Seller program.[5]

Nextag's headquarters are in Redwood Shores, California.[6] Additional offices are in Hamburg, Germany, Los Angeles, California, Tokyo, Japan, and Gurgaon, India.[7]

The Nextag.com web site went offline on 28 December 2018.[8][9]

Awards and recognition

It was ranked by Time magazine as one of the fifty best websites of 2008.[10] Time magazine called Nextag the "plainest comparative-shopping site on the Web", but commended it for quick and comprehensive shopping search results. Nextag not only provided customers with product reviews, but also, it provided the price history for each product. Other notable achievements include being listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500/Fast 50, Red Herring Top 100, San Francisco Business Times Fast 100, and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal Fast 50.[11]

As of 28 March 2018, it was ranked one of the "10 Top Price Comparison Websites" by Shopify.com.[12]

Acquisitions

In November 2010, Nextag announced the acquisition of nextcoupons.com, a Santa Monica, California-based coupon company.[13] This was a way for Nextag to bring in more talent and resources.[14] In April 2011, Nextag acquired Germany's Guenstiger.de GmbH, the leading online comparison shopping website in Europe's market.[15] In October 2011, Nextag acquired thingbuzz, a real-time social shopping platform that tracks the conversation about products in the social media sphere, in a bid to socialize the online shopping experience for its users.[16] At the very end of that very year, FanSnap was acquired by Nextag.[17] This was the fifth acquisition in only 15 months. According to former Nextag CEO Jeffrey Katz, these acquisitions enabled Nextag to be a one-stop ecommerce shop for various products including tickets.

Criticism of Google

Former CEO Jeffrey Katz accused Google of being a monopoly and killing small business competitors. Katz published an opinion piece clearly stating that users end up only seeing top search results that have been sponsored by companies. He claims that companies are able to pay Google for "that privilege". Google responded by stating that there is choice online and that "there has never been as much choice online as there is today" and noting that their advertisements are always marked clearly so users are able to see the sponsorship. Katz stressed ending the bias of the search results and to provide consumers with neutral search results.[18]

References
  1. About Nextag Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  2. Marshall, Matt. "Surviving, Thriving. Ojha's Determination Helps Rescue Nextag from Dot-Com Crash“ Archived 2008-07-07 at the Wayback Machine. San Jose Mercury News. 8. April 2005. Retrieved on 2008-09-23
  3. "Consumer Watchdog Asks California Attorney General to Investigate Amazon Pricing Practices After Study Reveals Consumers Are Misled by "Discounts" that Don't Exist". Consumer Watchdog. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  4. Delaney, Kevin (2007-06-09). "NexTag Sells Stake to Private Equity". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  5. Nextag Merchants Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  6. Businessweek Profile Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  7. CrunchBase profile Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  8. Steiner, Ina (7 January 2019). "What Happened to Comparison Shopping Engine NexTag?". EcommerceBytes.
  9. "Nextag.com - Is Nextag Down Right Now?". Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  10. Hamilton, Anita (2008-06-17). "NexTag (in "50 Best Web Sites of 2008")". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  11. NexTag(R) Named Among the Top Fastest Growing Companies in 2005 Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  12. Hayes, Mark. "10 Best Comparison Shopping Engines to Increase Ecommerce Sales". Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  13. CPC_Andrew. NexTag Acquires Online Coupon Provider, NextCoupons.com Archived 2010-11-15 at the Wayback Machine CPC Strategy 2010-11-09. Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  14. Wauters, Robin Nextag Acquires Online Coupon Provider NextCoupons TechCrunch 2010-11-08. Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  15. Rao, Leena NexTag Acquires German Comparison Shopping Site Guenstiger.de TechCrunch 2011-04-26. Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  16. "Nextag Socializes Online Shopping with Thingbuzz Acquisition". prnewswire. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  17. Constine, Josh. Ticket Search Engine FanSnap Acquired By Shopping Site NexTag, But Employees May Get $0 TechCrunch 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2014-11-13
  18. Lardinois, Frederic. Nextag CEO: Google Is A Monopoly; Google: You’ve Got Plenty Of Choice TechCrunch 2012-06-08. Retrieved on 2014-11-13
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