15th JULY 2010. Kelkoo.com launches in Beta this week as part of the business’ core strategy to expand into new markets. The USA is the 11th territory for Kelkoo and marks the first time that the company has launched a website outside of Europe. This venture represents a significant step forward for the business as it seeks to capitalise on new and lucrative international expansion opportunities.
The US market offers an extensive retail opportunity for Kelkoo, providing an obvious choice for an international launch as the business begins to build a global brand.  The US has the most advanced online retail market in the world, boasting a five times greater population than the UK and a shopping comparison market about ten times larger. In 2009, online sales in the US market alone amounted to $156 billion, equivalent to 7% of total retail spending – this compares to £127.7 billion (?143.7bn)across Europe’s twelve largest markets combined, representing just 4.7% of overall retail sales
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Kelkoo’s business model and technology platform lend themselves to international development and there is a clear commercial opportunity for the company to add value to the business by expanding Kelkoo services globally. The Beta launch of Kelkoo.com will allow US consumers to compare more than 2 million product offers from more than 1,500 retailers when shopping online, including 19 of the US’s top 25, such as Amazon, eBay, Sears, and Walmart among others. This is expected to rise to over 5 million product offers from over 5,000 retailers by the end of 2010 - an offering which will add to Kelkoo’s existing proposition across Europe, where it currently lists 12 million products and 44 million offers from over 10,000 online retailers.
Kelkoo.com will be hosted and managed in Europe and the site will eventually include a dynamic shipping and tax calculator, enabling US customers to calculate tax differences across states. This consumer-centric approach to online shopping provides Kelkoo with the ability to meet consumers’ needs in an extremely fast-moving marketplace.

Bruce Fair, VP International at Kelkoo, comments: “International growth forms part of Kelkoo’s ongoing strategy and the USA provides an exciting opportunity for Kelkoo to expand and develop its brand as a leader in shopping comparison. Kelkoo already has the largest Western European footprint in its sector, and the company also benefits from a strong ten-year online heritage and a business model that lends itself to significant low-cost expansion opportunities. There is a clear investment case for pushing Kelkoo forward into new territories to maximise its profitability as a business and we will continue to seek strategic opportunities for growth both within and outside of Europe in the coming year.”

Kelkoo is currently Europe’s third largest e-commerce website and one of the largest e-commerce advertising platforms in Europe. The domain name Kelkoo.com has been in existence for 10 years and previously redirected users to local country URLs. However Kelkoo.com, already receives over 1 million visits a month from around the globe, highlighting the potential of a ready-made audience for the Kelkoo brand in the USA.

For further information visit Kelkoo.com