Yahoo Inc. is seeing a rapid transition by customers to its highly anticipated Web search advertising system meant to compete with rival Google Inc., its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Chairman and CEO Terry Semel said the Internet media giant is prepared to begin the commercial introduction of the new advertising system on February 5, or about a month earlier than many Wall Street analysts had anticipated.

“I’m happy to report that we have successfully transitioned the large majority of our revenue to the new search system known as Project Panama,” Semel told investors during a conference call, referring to major U.S. advertisers.

Semel said existing search ad customers would be converted to the new ad system by the end of the first quarter, leading to revenue improvements from the second quarter forward.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. predicted a rare decline in monthly sales on Saturday, even as U.S. bargain-hunters jammed stores in search of gifts at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, sounded a cautious note for retailers as they began a second day of Thanksgiving weekend sales with deep discounts and early bird specials on items ranging from cashmere sweaters to big-screen plasma televisions.

Wal-Mart estimated that November sales fell 0.1 percent at its U.S. stores open at least a year — a closely watched retail measure known as same-store sales.

The retailer will provide a final monthly sales report on Thursday, when most other major chain stores report their November figures. This would mark Wal-Mart’s first monthly same-store sales decline since April 1996.

The thumping pop music and blaring lights at Seoul’s Dongdaemun market keep going all night long as shoppers swarm around merchants hawking the latest trendy fashions at rock-bottom prices.

South Korea’s Gmarket Inc. seems to have captured the energy of that raw commerce and made a home for it on the Internet, creating a Web site that has quickly become a top online destination in this computer-savvy nation. It’s going head-to-head with eBay Inc.’s Korean subsidiary.

Gmarket has drawn the interest of U.S.-based Yahoo Inc., which recently bought a 9 percent stake. It went public in June, offering shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and is pondering future expansion, with an eye to entering Japan next year and later moving into China and the U.S.

The company, which doesn’t stock inventory, offers online storefronts and a variety of tools to make it easier for sellers to set up shop and manage inventory. Gmarket handles payments, earning its revenue from transaction fees that vary depending on the product.

Tags: eBay, Yahoo, Gmarket

With the rise of the Internet, the phrase “permission marketing” has become the buzzword for a kinder, gentler form of cut-through-the-clutter marketing.

The idea, popularized by business guru Seth Godin, is that you stop intruding on your prospects (as with, say, TV commercials) and start giving them reasons (such as contests or e-newsletters) to “raise their hands” and invite you to tell them about your product.

But how do you practise this marketing mantra when you’re an entrepreneur selling to corporate executives — flinty-eyed recluses who would rather wrestle a water buffalo than offer you any kind of encouragement?

Catherine McQuaid, a Toronto-based business-development consultant (www.huntnewbiz.com), has a theory. She calls it “Big-Game Hunters in the Urban Jungle.” I think a better name is “Off-Target Marketing.” Either way, it’s an approach to prospecting that might help you build stronger relationships with hard-to-reach executives.

Tags: Off-target marketing, Internet Marketing, Permission marketing

Global publishers, fearing that Web search engines such as Google Inc. are encroaching on their ability to generate revenue, plan to launch an automated system for granting permission on how to use their content.

Buoyed by a Belgian court ruling this week that Google was infringing on the copyright of French and German language newspapers by reproducing article snippets in search results, the publishers said on Friday they plan to start testing the service before the end of the year.

“This industry-wide initiative positively answers the growing frustration of publishers, who continue to invest heavily in generating content for online dissemination and use,” said Gavin O’Reilly, chairman of the World Association of Newspapers, which is spearheading the initiative.

“This system is intended to remove completely any rights conflicts between publishers and search engines,” added O’Reilly, who is also the chief operating officer of Independent News & Media.

Tags: global publishers, Google, copyright