EMAP Online And NatWest Pioneer Transactional Advertising

EMAP Online, the new media division of media group EMAP, has announced a partnership with Cybuy, a new e-commerce subsidiary from NatWest, to offer transactional banner ads on its websites. The deal will make EMAP Online the first internet publisher in Europe to use the Cybuy-developed service.

The system has been designed to remove the barriers to consumers associated with making online purchases. Currently, banner ads generally link to an external site which users then have to navigate through in order to buy goods online. Cybuy will allow advertisers to use the standard banner ad to offer immediate transactions from within the same site.

A pop-up box will allow users to complete the transaction directly after they have clicked on the banner, after which they will be returned to the original web page. The idea is to facilitate impulse purchases of goods, typically valued between £10 and £50, and should benefit consumers, retailers and advertisers alike. Cybuy’s service also uses targeting and profiling technology to match appropriate adverts to each visitor to a website.

Robert Horler, commercial director for EMAP Online, says: “There’s a debate raging in the industry at the moment about how banner ads need to evolve if they are to be really effective. Cybuy’s solution gives our advertisers just what they have been crying out for. Everybody wins because the customer can buy online more easily and more quickly, retailers benefit from incremental sales and we like it because we don’t lose visitors from our site.”

EMAP Online publishes a number of websites in the UK, including aloud.com, a2btravel.com and whatsonstage.com. EMAP also recently launched the Escape Routes multimedia brand as both a website and consumer magazine (see First Issue Review: Escape Routes).

EMAP Online: 0171 309 2710 Cybuy: 0171 454 2163 … http://www.cybuy.com/