Ebay announced Tuesday morning that the recently acquired Milo.com will be added to the company’s RedLaser barcode-scanning application. With the addition of Milo to RedLaser’s capabilities, mobile users will be able to scan an item and found out which local retailers have that item in stock and which has the best price.
Ebay acquired Milo last week for a rumored $75 million, though the terms were not officially disclosed. Founded in 2008 by then 22-year-old CEO Jack Abraham, the local shopping site, deemed the “anti-Amazon,” has proven itself as a competitive Web company. With approximately one million unique visitors each month and a rapidly expanding aggregation system that now covers over three million items across 52,000 stores, the company will undoubtedly prove to be a lucrative addition to the eBay family.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, the Milo.com site layout was temporarily redesigned to feature over 5,000 aggregated Black Friday deals. In previous years the company has seen major spikes in user traffic around Thanksgiving. Last year, some 250,000 people swarmed the site between Thursday and Monday. This year, traffic peaked out at 60,000 unique visitors on Black Friday alone, which is 1.5 times the amount of traffic the company saw last year.
The site is very useful for shoppers who not only want to find the best deal, but want to find out if an item is in stock at a nearby store. Ebay’s RedLaser app allows users to scan the barcode on an item to search online listings for price comparisons, but with the new Milo.com integration, users can take that price comparison to a local level to find out if that item is available at a local retailer.
Previously, the RedLaser app was only available on iOS devices, but starting Tuesday, the app will now be available for Android devices as well. Ebay purchased RedLaser in June of this year for an undisclosed amount, and according to the company, downloads have tripled in the last five months
“RedLaser brings countless pages of shopping sites, and now the shelves of local stores, right to the palm of your hand,” said Steve Yankovich, vice president of eBay mobile, in a prepared statement. “Now, with local results from Milo, deal hunters and last-minute shoppers can spend less time researching prices and searching stores for the perfect gift. In a single scan, shoppers can be confident that they are finding the best deal whether that’s online or at a local retailer.”
Milo.com recently launched its own standalone mobile shopping app in November. The company said via email that the Milo Local Shopping will continue to be available for Android users.
Image source: redlaser.com
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Milo.com is the free Web site that enables shoppers to research online and buy local – providing the best of both worlds. It combines the advantages of an Amazon-like experience with the ability to touch, feel and get products now at a local retailer. It provides all of the product details and user reviews people have come to expect with online shopping, and then searches store shelves to find the best price and availability for the products shoppers want – right when they want them.
Milo.com’s direct customers are top, nationally-distributed retailers, including Best Buy, Nordstrom, Target, Walmart, and dozens of others.
Milo.com’s features include:
o Sale tracking to find real-time sale prices for more than 2 million products at national and regional stores throughout the country.
The Milo.com shopper values information, time and money, and uses the site to make a well-researched decision not only on what to buy, but where to buy it to optimize value, enable trial and have it in-hand immediately.
