Dive Brief:
- Connexity, formerly Shopzilla, added marketing data provider Hitwise and consumer research firm Simmons Research – both acquired from information services firm Experian.
- The moves are part of Connexity bolstering its digital marketing platform as it moves away from its previous incarnation as a comparison shopping site under the Shopzilla brand.
- Last year it bought Become.com, another comparison shopping site, and in June it picked up PriceGrabber, also a comparison shopping engine and retail lead gen platform.
Dive Insight:
“We’re very far from being what we were with Shopzilla. Even just five years ago we were focused on comparison shopping,” Connexity CEO Bill Glass told Marketing Land.
Hitwise’s latest product is AudienceView, tech that combines clickstream data tracked by Hitwise with customer information from Simmons Research’s survey panels. Hitwise monitors around seven billion URLs as part of its competitive online intelligence, tracking where visitors came from before arriving at a competitor’s site and where they go once they click away.
Connexity plans on using insights from Hitwise and Simmons Research, combined with consumer intent data from its comparison shopping pieces, for audience-based targeting.
Glass said the Hitwise and Simmons acquistions "position us as a technology and data-driven marketing services company."