MSN Shopping BETA officially launched today increasing the number of stores by 60x, the number of items by 5x, and the number of offers by millions and millions. You can access the site here. The full rollout will take place over the weekend.

I talked with Chris Jolley, Group Programming Manager of MSN Shopping about the launch.

“Today is the day Microsoft has entered the comparison shopping space. We’ve put a ton of investment into building a better shopping comparison tool. [The site] is our recognition that this is how consumers want to shop. Microsoft has always been good at building great technology. A great selection without a good way to find a product is bad. A great tool with no selection doesn’t help either. We’ve coupled technology with a broad selection of products and merchants. This is a case where 1 + 1 = 3.’

“Right now we are using Pricegrabber, but we have also increased the number of merchants we’re working with directly. The long term strategy is to explore and investigate ways to bring in relevant offers to consumers. We are launching with Pricegrabber because of the number of merchants they have and the ratings they have. Our relationship gives us a jumpstart in terms of ratings and reviews so we aren’t starting from scratch. We are also taking feeds directly from our own merchants.”

What makes MSN Shopping different…
“The combination of great technology with a new comparison shopping engine coupled with expanded selection. [The 'great technology' refers to PriceGrabber as well as the comparison shopping tool that MSN Shopping built internally, which brings in the various data feeds]. Search refinements are also a huge feature. Consumers can refine the searches by relevant criteria and details and are able to sort by price, rating, popularity, names, etc. This enables them to find what they are looking for quickly and easily with confidence.”

“Another thing that sets us apart is the time and effort we put into merchandising some of the key categories of the site. Great examples of this is are our Seasonal Guides & Shops and our Gift Center. These are especially helpful for people who know that they want to buy something but don’t know exactly what. ”

Chris ended by saying “we are very committed to the space and we’ve done a lot of consumer research. Take a look at the site and send your feedback.