Class weblog
Milo: Google Enters Local Product Search
In class, we discussed Milo, an interesting local product search company started by alumnus Jack Abraham. I have been involved since day 1 as an advisor. Many of you also worked on the Milo project as part of the mid-semester project. Some interesting updates on milo in the past few weeks.
1. Google added the ability to track product availability to its local product search product. WSJ carries the story.
2. This has raised questions about implications for Milo. Techcrunch carries related discussion, including Milo’s response.
Although the pictures in Milo’s response are meant to be in a lighter vein, I feel the market is big enough to support two strong players. It’s a bit of David versus Goliath but Milo is aggressively looking to stay ahead of Google. There’s lots of open problems yet to be solved in this market (how to bring the small players, how to monetize, etc) and consequently some great opportunities for differentiation. It’s still early days for this market. Anyway, we know who won David versus Goliath 
about 1 year ago
Certainly very interesting developments in this industry. I think the winner, if there will be one, will be selected on the basis of the value package offered to affiliated stores. As with AdWords, the ability to provide retail chains and smaller stores with statistics on customer searches will attract these businesses’ interest. The one that attracts the most stores per region will be the most valuable and attractive to users, and will subsequently attract more stores.
These two-sided network effects, and the parallel with AdWords, actually lead me to guess there will be a winner. That is, at least on a regional basis, as this local search industry is inherently geographically organized. My advice to Milow? Focus on offering some real value-added to retailers in order to increase scale and provide a valuable service to users, all in the hope of getting network effects rolling. “First you get the power, then you get the money”.