I've always seen the shopping engines as interesting models for other sectors (e.g., yellow pages) and I'm increasingly interested in online shopping for many reasons. At time moment I have little time go deeply into the launch of Mpire, which helps consumers track and shop for classifieds and auction items (and then buy them). It's being described as the "Zillow of online shopping."
Mpire taps into the dominant use case for shopping engines: price comparisons. The site has various tools to bring more "transparency" to the market in terms of pricing ranges and trends, which is what Zillow is trying to do in real estate.
Admittedly I've spent about 30 seconds with the site but there's enough complexity to make this a power buyer's tool for the time being. But there are lots of interesting tools and possibilities, making it a company to watch.
One interesting aspect of Mpire is the combination of auction items and classifieds. This is in a way a natural combination because eBay was built as a private party sellers marketplace. But I've been writing for awhile about the breakdown of distinctions between classifieds and directories and media categories online (newspapers vs. directories vs. listings marketplaces). Consumers want convenience and efficiency and I think would respond well to single "marketplace" to get most or all of their needs met.
Products and services are still distinct categories, but it's only a matter of time before someone does an Mpire or Zillow in the services marketplace.
Brian Smith at Comparison Engines has a lengthy and interesting post and the Seattle PI has the overview on the launch.
