• Forbes, Friday, November 18, 2005 11:45 AM

The holiday shopping season is a nice reminder that Google doesn't dominate every part of the Web. Aside from a cute name, Froogle, the company's comparison shopping site, is mediocre at best, receiving 60 percent fewer visitors than its chief rivals Yahoo! Shopping, eBay's Shopping.com, and E.W. Scripps' Shopzilla in October, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. The irony is that Froogle is free for retailers--unlike the other shopping engines--so why haven't they lined up to use the service? Analysts say that because Google has so few resources devoted to Froogle, the process of getting listed is cumbersome for retailers. Meanwhile, Yahoo! Shopping, Shopping.com and Shopzilla all make money on each click, and prices are expected to be 40 percent higher than last year.

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