It was about 7 years ago since a young company named Outbrain had come up with an insane idea of letting content sites recommend each other’s posts to their visitors, so when a visitors would finish reading an article, a recommendation to a follow-up article would show up, something relevant to him that isn’t necessarily from the same site ( It was a little more complicated than that, but the concept remains).

The first questions the entrepreneurs got in those days were about the willingness of online stores to share visitors with one another. They answered that it’s all about the maturity, and that content sites are starting to reach the point where they understand visitors are not theirs, and they jump between sites whether we like it or not, so why not help them.

Today Outbrain works with the biggest content sites, like CNN, and is worth close to $1 Billion.

Looks familiar? Outbrain recommendations at the bottom of a CNN article

What happened 7 years ago in content sites, now happens in eCommerce sites. In the past 4 months, as a part of our own venture, we’ve been interviewing dozens of online stores managers regarding their willingness to cooperate with other stores in their field in much the same way content sites work together.We were surprised the responses were so positive - they long for it, and they don’t afraid to share. The conditions are of course it will contribute to their revenues.

It was expected. Online shopping becomes more like real life shopping - similar to window shopping at the mall, online shoppers travel between stores more and buy more spontaneously - which is the equivalent for surfing the web for interesting stuff to watch or read. Add to that the maturity of the industry, and just like in content sites, eCommerce sites will look to work together. BTW - the concept has been working for years in the closed marketplaces at Amazon, eBay etc.

This trend is not yet complete - we continue to see some deterrents surrounding brand awareness, and of course surrounding effectiveness and competition, but these are fading away with time.

Already now there are solutions in existence, and we’re sure to see more of them in the future. Who knows, will this be where small businesses get their power over the big players?