The novelty of searching and browsing the net has worn off. People are in hurry and want to find what they are looking for without having to click their way through a company's entire site.
RealNames, a California company founded in 1997, believes it has developed the technology to make e-commerce quick and painless. Known as the Internet Keywords system, this click-cutting device is being backed financially by, among others, Microsoft, as part of the software giant's new strategy to put itself at the centre of the internet for consumers and businesses.
"Surfing was two years ago, now we're looking for e-commerce solutions. We look at Internet Keywords as a way for people to go straight to the products," explains John Tomany, vice president of business development RealNames Europe.
Several companies have turned to Keywords, including eBay, the hugely-successful online auctioneer, and Panasonic, the Japanese electronics consumer giant. The "deep brand-navigation" devised by RealNames allows a company to shepherd customers directly to products, using key phrases.
Say a customer wants to buy a digital video player (DVD) from Panasonic; typing "Panasonic DVDs" in the address field of their browser will take them straight to a list of Panasonic DVDs, cutting out the company's home page and navigation. Ford recently used Keywords technology to push sales of its Explorer cars. Instead of trawling through the Ford site, customers who typed in the words "Ford Explorer" were taken directly to the relevant pages.
For companies keen to exploit e-commerce, such directness can be a boon. Typically, the Keyword system is used in conjunction with a promotion campaign through posters, print or TV ads. Once a company has generated interest in a product, potential customers have the option of following up that interest online.
"It's all about convergence of the offline and online experience," says Mr Tomany.
RealNames claims there has been overwhelming interest in its Keywords technology, which may be mostly hype, but since Microsoft - which has already taken a 20% stake in the company - has today committed itself to Keywords for its Internet Explorer browser and MSN Search, deep brand-navigation could be the shopping tool of the very near future.
About two million Keywords are currently in use in the US and Europe, with between 250,000 and 300,000 of those being based on this side of the Atlantic. A company typically pays RealNames about £2,000 a year for the use of a Keyword and the evidence so far is that companies are willing to give Keywords a go as a means of boosting sales.
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