Shopping.com has launched a free and easy-to-integrate ratings and review service aimed at small and medium sized retailers.

The product is designed to be easy to integrate into retail sites, by simply copying and pasting some javascript code, and allows retailers to add product rating functionality to their web sites at zero cost. The company sees this as a big plus for smaller retailers who want to keep up with best practice but find the cost of adding this functionality themselves is prohibitive.

“We keep being asked what we’re getting out of building this free service for our merchants,” says Mark Elwig, head of merchant services at Shopping.com. “The truth is that the Shopping.com network has over 10 years of customer reviews expertise — we have Epinions in the US — so the business has the background and knowledge to develop the very best technology. Product reviews are a positive addition for our merchants and for consumers, so we’re looking to make it available to as many of our online retailers as possible within the next six to nine months — especially the smaller companies that couldn’t do it alone.”

“The overarching plan is to create a richer experience for our shoppers, with both more content and richer content, so that we drive more sales, return visits and increase customer engagement,” Elwig explains.

Online retailers that take up the review service are asked to share the content with Shopping.com UK and DealTime.

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