Atlanta-based CNN.com, “in response to the growing popularity
of online shopping,” this week launched Shop@CNN, a category-exclusive online vendor
service on its main site.
Shop@CNN is designed to provide CNN.com users with access to online vendors
from anywhere within the site, including the homepage.
The five initial vendors are barnesandnoble.com, FlowerClub.com (a Gerald
Stevens
company), Internet Travel Network, Staples, and TotalE. Shop@CNN eventually will have 16 categories.
“We want to provide the ideal commerce environment for our advertisers,”
said Nicole Vogel, vice president of business development for Turner
Interactive Sales. “We’ve created a vehicle that offers them category
exclusivity and increased visibility throughout every page of CNN.com.”
“Our research shows that CNN.com users are 141 percent more
likely than the average Web user to make an online purchase,” said Mark Bernstein, CNN senior vice president and general manager of
CNN Interactive.
Shop@CNN is integrated into every page of CNN.com by means of an advertising
box that appears on a new second vertical navigation bar to the right of the
CNN
news content. Each advertiser will highlight a specific product in the
navigation bar and main page on a rotational basis.
The CNN Web sites averaged 141 million page impressions per week during March
according to Cyber Dialogue figures, the company said.