Commerce System and Method of Controlling the Commerce System Using Bidding and Value Based Messaging

摘要

A commerce system has retailers offering products for sale to consumers. A plurality of bids for a search criteria are accepted. A winning bid for the search criteria is selected from the plurality of bids. Value message content related to the winning bid for the search criteria is accepted. An interface to submit a search query corresponding to the search criteria is provided. Search results corresponding to the search query are collected. The commerce system is controlled by displaying the search results and value message content to influence purchasing decisions. A market segment is applied to a scope of the bids. The search criteria is accepted with the bids. The winning bid is selected based on a value of the bids. A database containing product information is provided. The search results corresponding to the search query are collected from the database.