Transactional banners are back in the headlines. Adgregate Markets' ShopAds transactional banner ad technology is being made available to customers of Google's DoubleClick division.

The concept of a transactional banner is simple: customers can browse and purchase products directly from a banner on a third party website without ever having to leave the page the banner is on.

When these were first heralded as the future of e-commerce, you can bet that we were all over it. A few years later and there was still no sign of these transformational widgets. Tailgate Technologies were first to market this technology in 2007 but it’s unclear how effective they were at generating sales. I’ve certainly never come across one of these banners – and I’m one of those people who actually like banner ads (I also like tv ads – go figure).


This latest announcement means that customers of DoubleClick will now be able to integrate the ShopAds’ e-commerce functionality into any of its banner ads. According to Adgregate Markets CEO Henry Wong, its own ad network has about 12 million unique visitors monthly with 1 million of these ShopAds embedded across the web.

So will it take off? Will customers feel safe in purchasing from a banner on a potentially unknown third party website?

I’ll stick my neck out and say yes.

Once people get over the tech and possible security issues, I think these banners will become a key revenue stream for the right brands. Initially, this type of transaction would be perfect for the lower value goods – certainly not the high-end luxury sector. Impulse buys, micro-payment items, electronic tickets, downloadable purchases will be first to benefit.

When confidence grows, and the technology advances, who knows what will be possible.

This is precisely why I love the Internet. A constant flow of game changing innovations that turn what we get accustomed to on its head!

I’d love to hear other people’s views on these…so please feel free to comment below.