Got Bots? You’re Tangling Web of Commerce

Consumers using “shopping bots”--computer programs designed to continuously log on to Web sites to help consumers find an item or compare prices--are slowing some holiday shopping Web sites to a crawl.

“It’s a very real problem, and I think we’re liable to have legal forays into this particular issue down the line,” said Jack Staff, chief internet analyst for Zona Research Inc. “Especially if a site’s performance degrades and sales are not enough to compensate.”

Because the bots are automated, they can log on to as many as seven sites at a time, every 30 seconds, looking for an item going on sale. The customer gets an e-mail when the bot finds the item.

The programs have been around for years and are great for shoppers, but they are less than popular with Internet retailers watching their sites slow under the flood of hits.

BlueLight.com, Kmart’s online site, had a major bot attack on Dec. 1, when it recorded 80,000 hits from PlayStation2 hunters in just a few minutes.

“We suffered a slight slowdown in the site based on that traffic, but we were able to readjust and haven’t had any slowdowns since,” said company spokesman Dave Karraker. “Our goal is to provide as many people as possible the ability to shop with us on the Internet. If shopping bots cause people to have a less than satisfactory experience, then we’re against them.”

Web sites can be programmed to fend off the bots, and many e-commerce sites are.

“At some levels, shopping bots are useful to direct traffic to some sites and let consumers know who has what product at what price,” said Peter Christy of Jupiter Research. “But big Web sites are already under a lot of pressure during the holidays, and the last thing they want to see is any diminishing of their ability to deal with their customers.”

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BlueLight:https://www.bluelight.com

PS2 bots: https://www.PS2Finder.com

https://www.PS2Bargains.com