NYT: AOL Expands Shopping Features

In a few days AOL plans to introduce its shopping portal to compete with the likes of Froogle, Shopping.com and Yahoo Shopping. About ten percent of online holiday shoppers visited a comparison shopping site like this last year, showing that they've become popular, but still have much growth potential. The sites allow consumers to compare products side-by-side and find the best available online deal. One interesting feature allows instant messaging among people looking at the same product. AOL will employ PinPoint shopping's product criteria selection database to allow users to narrow down product lists by feature. The PinPoint screenshot at left can be expanded by clicking on it.