Become.com Launches Japan Shopping Search Site; Relevant Search Service Expands to Fast Growing Japanese E-Commerce Market.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Become.com, the only vertical search engine A Web-based search engine that indexes content specialized by location (local venues and activities), by topic, typically for consumers, or by industry, geared to businesses (B2B). combining comparison shopping with Web-wide product research, today announced the launch of its first international site, Become Japan, www.become.co.jp. Become Japan is a joint venture with Transcosmos Corporation of Japan, a pioneer in outsourced information services See Information Systems. . The Japanese language Japanese language Language spoken by about 125 million people on the islands of Japan, including the Ryukyus. The only other language of the Japanese archipelago is Ainu (see Ainu), now spoken by only a handful of people on Hokkaido, though once much more widespread. site is the first international expansion of Become's popular comparison shopping and search service. With more than 70 million Internet users Internet user n → internauta m/f Internet user Internet n → internaute m/f , Japan is the world's second largest market for online shopping and advertising. The Japan Marketing Association estimated the market size at 340 billion yen in 2004 (about $2.9 billion U.S.). Become Japan will focus initially on product research and reviews using the company's patent pending AIR(TM) (Affinity Index Ranking) search technology. This technology produces highly relevant product information and reviews, eliminating extraneous ex·tra·ne·ous adj. 1. Not constituting a vital element or part. 2. Inessential or unrelated to the topic or matter at hand; irrelevant. See Synonyms at irrelevant. 3. results and SPAM that often frustrate consumers trying to make buying decisions. AIR(TM) delivers better results by combining algorithms with human intelligence. "Japan is one of the world's most vibrant economies and they have actively embraced online shopping which now accounts for about 30 percent of all Japanese direct marketing sales," said Yeogirl Yun, founder, chairman and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) The executive responsible for the technical direction of an organization. See CIO and salary survey. of Become.com. "Working with our partner Transcosmos, we believe Become Japan will further accelerate consumer confidence by giving online shoppers the most useful, relevant product information available with one easy click on our site." "We believe the Japanese e-commerce market offers great opportunities for companies that understand consumer needs and who deliver a great experience," said Masa Okuda, President and COO of Transcosmos Inc. "We are proud to partner with Become.com whose proven search and shopping service delivers results that help online customers make informed shopping decisions." While Become Japan will initially offer product research only, Yun added that the company plans to follow up by adding its successful comparative shopping feature. "We want to give Japanese consumers the same shopper's edge we provide in the U.S. by delivering both useful product information and the best price selections. We plan to use our Japanese site launch as a model for continuing our international roll-out." Expanding into other fast growing Asia markets is the first stage in Become's international strategy. Become Korea will officially launch later in the second quarter. About Become.com Become.com is a search engine and comparison shopping site that helps consumers to both find useful reviews and information on millions of products and to shop for those products from brand name retailers from across the web. Founded by Michael Yang Michael Yang (Korean: 양민정, Hanja: 梁民正, born August 31 1961) is a Korean-American Entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, California. and Yeogirl Yun, founders of the pioneering mySimon online shopping solution, Become.com indexes over three billion pages of shopping related information and employs its proprietary AIR(TM) (Affinity Index Ranking) technology to deliver targeted and relevant information for shopping searches. Visit www.become.com. About Transcosmos Shibuya-ku, Tokyo-based Transcosmos Inc. has been pioneering Japan's outsourced information services field since 1966. Led by President and COO Masataka Okuda and traded on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tokyo Stock Exchange Main stock market of Japan, located in Tokyo. It opened in 1878 to provide a market for the trading of government bonds newly issued to former samurai. (symbol: 9715), it has 7,604 employees and annual sales of Yen91.9 billion (consolidated FY ending March 2005). Since its founding, Transcosmos has continually striven to enhance client-corporations' competitiveness through innovations combining the strengths of human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. and technology to offer outsourced services with higher value-added. Foreseeing how the quickening quickening /quick·en·ing/ (kwik´en-ing) the first perceptible movement of the fetus in the uterus. quick·en·ing n. spread of valuable information between companies and consumers -- and the implications this has for corporate marketing -- in June 2002 Transcosmos moved to transform itself into The Marketing Chain Management Company. With a new communications channel Also called a "circuit" or "line," it is a pathway over which data are transferred between remote devices. It may refer to the entire physical medium, such as a telephone line, optical fiber, coaxial cable or twisted wire pair, or, it may refer to one of several carrier frequencies now taking shape through the integration of telephone, web, email, and even live video using Internet protocols Refers to all the standards that keep the Internet running. The foundation protocol is TCP/IP, which provides the basic communications mechanism as well as ways to copy files (FTP) and send e-mail (SMTP). ; Transcosmos realizes that Internet expertise will be indispensable in the running of contact and call centers. Continuing in its tradition of developing more advanced outsourcing services while adapting the latest Internet technologies, Transcosmos is committed to continue maximizing its unique strengths to help clients speed up business processes, expand sales, cut costs, and enhance customer satisfaction. To find out how Transcosmos can help your company with its cutting-edge interactive solutions, you are invited to visit its web site at http://www.transcosmos.co.jp. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion