Just ahead of Santa, The Parent Co. launches Toys.com

The Parent Co., operator of retail sites eToys.com and BabyUniverse.com, has launched Toys.com as a vertical search and comparison shopping site. Merchant data feeds will be handled by Channel Intelligence, which represents more than 500 retailers that offer toy-specific product categories through the CI Ad Network.

Toys.com features several toy subcategories, including toys and games, learning systems, video games, action figures and blocks and building sets, and the site will differ from other comparison shopping sites in offering a more flexible fee structure to attract more merchants, says Michael Wagner, CEO of The Parent Co., No. 117 in the .

"Before Toys.com, comparison shopping search sites had not been able to attract big players in part because their pay-per-click revenue models priced them out of the market,” he says. “Our dual revenue structure provides choice and flexibility and has already generated much better partner participation than the market-leading shopping comparison sites."

The new online shopping portal appears to be the first to use the Toys.com domain name as a retail e-commerce site. A search on InternetRetailer.com, which itself launched in the summer of 1999, found no other uses of the Toys.com web address.

Toys.com provides multiple search and navigation options, including a navigation bar with drop-down menus for searching by price, category, brand, age, gender and fictional character, such as Spider-Man or Scooby-Doo.

The home page also features a rotating slide show of seasonal or topical toys, including product images and descriptions, and “see-all” link to the complete product group of a featured toy.

Products listed on search results pages link to individual product pages featuring enlarged product images, price ranges and specific retailer listings and prices. Toys.com will eventually also feature interactive customer reviews and opportunities for social networking, The Parent Co. says.

Toys.com was designed to build on its domain name to support natural search rankings, says Chris Cummings, chief technology officer of The Parent Co.

The Parent Co. will operate Toys.com as an entity separate from its retail sites eToys.com and BabyUniverse.com, the company says. Channel Intelligence will also handle merchant sign-up and revenue collection, The Parent Co. says.
www.internetretailer.com/