Directed Shopping

ISPs looking for a value-added service to offer their customers might want to try myZack, a pricing portal that gives service providers a commission for every customer that makes a purchase through the network.

by Jim Wagner

ISPs looking for a value-added service to offer their customers might want to try myZack, an e-business portal that lets customers make low-cost price comparisons when they shop online. The portal, currently available for individual web surfers, is expanding to let service providers share revenues for every customer that makes a purchase through the network.

Matt Patterson, CEO and co-founder of the Zack Network wants local and regional ISPs to take advantage of deals usually only available to national-level entities. AOL, Mindspring, etc., have partnership deals with companies throughout the world, bringing them added revenue outside their internet access venture.

That's money that's slipping through other ISPs' fingers every day, he says, because they don't have the footprint retail organizations are looking for. Patterson claims that according to recent studies, $1,400 is spent in online shopping per household in a year. None of that will go to the ISP, unless they sign up with a revenue sharing program.

Setting Up myZack
According to their news release, it's so easy to set up that ISPs can be up and running within hours. To partner with myZack, the ISP routes its outgoing traffic through the server provided by the company, with no technical integration. They recommend starting the system during off-peak hours and gradually cranking up the system before prime time.

When a person logs on at www.myzack.com through their personal account, they are sent through the proxy server at the web site, which changes proxy settings transparently in the person's browser. If they log on through the ISP, the proxy server is located at the ISP. Proxy settings are returned to their normal values after logging off the network.

The Zack Bar, as the portal interface is called, has everything to make the product popular if it catches on with the public. The DHTML application lets people view price comparisons, edit an internet-wide wish list, and link to product reviews.

Unfortunately, you cannot compare with items outside the network. Currently, there are only about 175 retail sites "partnered" with the Zack Network. This is fine when customers are shopping for common items like books and software, where there is an abundance of comparable items. But when you get into the more specialized offerings, comparisons are hard to make. The company is currently in talks with other e-tail companies to join the network on a revenue-sharing basis.

One ISP's Experience
CaliforniaCom, Inc., an ISP with approximately 10,000 dialup accounts, has been in the network for about three months, and is pleased with feedback from customers.

"For the most part, people have been happy with the service," said Rick Eggars, vice president and director of marketing. "Of course, we get the extremes of reaction from our customers. We've gotten people who have said it was great, and we've also heard from the people who are concerned about the security of the program."

Eggar's company is one of the first ISPs in the ISP program.

The first 10 companies to sign up with myZack have been trying out the beta version of the ISP program.

Setup for the ISP
Setup involves giving the myZack technicians who come out a couple of IP addresses and access to the network operations center. There, the technicians install a layer 4 Alteon switch, which is connected to a set of Cobalt servers (the number is determined by the ISPs subscribers). Eggars said the process took the technicians a half-hour to set up at his ISP and it started off without a hitch.

Taking The Sticky Out Of Sticky Sites
According to Patterson, the time has come for ISPs to move over into the ASP arena and start providing services and content.

"ISPs can not just be a connection service," said Patterson. "They have to be able to give value-added services, and offer compelling content to keep their customers. You look at your free internet services, which only provide connection. Then you look at your AOLs and see the content they are offering. Most ISPs are in the middle."

About myZack
Bertelsmann Ventures is the primary investor in myZack. It is the venture arm of Bertelsmann, the world's third largest media company, which provides funding for emerging business-to-business and business-to-consumer technology and wireless applications companies.

System Requirements
Netscape 4.0 or higher on most platforms
Internet Explorer 4.0 and 5.0 on Windows 95/98

Click here for a demo. This FAQ is also interesting.

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