(RTTNews) - Software giant Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT) said Wednesday that it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback. This is one of the latest efforts of Microsoft to increase its market share in searching, which is dominated by Google
(GOOG).
Microsoft has roped in companies such as eBay Inc.
(EBAY), Barnes & Noble.com
(BKS), Overstock.com Inc.
(OSTK), and Sears Holdings Corp.
(SHLD) as partners in the new program.
The Live Search cashback portfolio includes more than 10 million products from more than 700 merchants, including more than 13 of the top 40 U.S. retailers.
Microsoft also said it has delivered a new Live Search travel destination, Live Search Farecast in order to find the best travel deals on the Web.
The company has run similar cashback promotions before. In 2006, the company offered $1 million in prizes for online users who entered keyword searches on Microsoft's search engine and also ran a rewards program for search users last summer. Microsoft's search market share rose in both times during that period.
Microsoft noted that the search advertising provides enormous opportunity to reach consumers. According to eMarketer Inc. and other industry data, U.S. online retail is expected to grow to $335 billion by 2012. At present, 68% of all the retail transactions begin at a search engine. This translates to 3.7 billion commerce-related queries a month.
With Live Search cashback, Microsoft stated that it would help merchants maximize their advertising investments and boost sales by providing consumers with an added incentive to buy.
Partners in the new program choose to pay Microsoft a cost-per-action, or CPA, fee each time a customer completes a sale through Live Search cashback. The fee, which is a percentage of the retail price, is paid when that transaction is complete. Microsoft, in turn, returns the same to the consumer in the form of a cash rebate.
MSFT is currently trading down 38 cents or 1.32% at $28.38.
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