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Taxi is about to launch the second version of its online personal

organiser product (www.mytaxi.com), with an increased emphasis on

electronic commerce.

Taxi sits on internet users’ desktops, and allows them to connect directly

to their favourite web sites through a hierarchical directory. Previously

it had been funded by advertising, but the new version will prioritise

online shopping.

”Taxi version one was a personal organiser. Taxi version two is a personal

shopping assistant,” commented Taxi director Jonathan Hammond. ”Our

emphasis is on keeping Taxi attractive to the user. It’s free, and we

don’t want to shove advertising down people’s throats. We want e-commerce

to be our priority, and we want to have relevant promotions as part of the

commercial proposition.”

Taxi is building shopping areas within its service, with groups of shops

arranged by type. The company is trying to sign merchants up to its

service, and has already reached a deal with e-commerce company Intershop.

In return for the audience it provides, online shops using Taxi pay the

company a small percentage of each transaction.

Hammond said the company would be looking for ways to improve the shopping

experience. ”For example, if you’re looking for a book in one of the

bookshops, and you can’t find it, you can click on the Taxi icon on your

screen and be taken to the relevant area of other shops,” he said. ”You

couldn’t do that without Taxi.” He added that the company was looking to

introduce comparison shopping over the next few months, so Taxi can

automatically compare prices at different shops.