Opera Software released Opera 88 Stable this week. The new version of the web browser introduces support for horizontal tab scrolling and a new feature that Opera Software calls Shopping Corner.
Shopping Corner is available in four countries -- Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and United States -- at the time, but Opera Software has plans to roll out the feature to additional companies in future releases.
The company describes Shopping Corner as a central hub for shopping related activities. The built-in feature brings price comparison, coupons, trends, news and "the best deals" to the Opera community. While not mentioned specifically, it is almost certain that Opera Software is also benefitting from Shopping Corner financially.
The startpage of Shopping Corner is available from the browser's welcome page and sidebar. The sidebar icon needed to be enabled on our test system before it showed up in the sidebar.
Shopping Corner's startpage displays a search field at the top. Type the name of a product and you get results right away. Type Windows 11, and you get offers to purchase the operating system or devices that run the system.
Product search is just one of the available options. Scroll down a bit and you reach the coupons and promotions sections.
Coupons may be filtered, for instance, to only display coupons for sports and travel sites. These work as you'd except them to work: each coupon lists the amount that you will save when you use it, the discount code itself, a link to the store, and other specifications.
Promotions work similarly, but the main differentiating factor is that individual items are listed in this section that Opera users may buy at a discount. There is also a news and trends section. and a listing of popular shops.
A click on the settings icon displays options to hide certain sections. If you are not interested in the list of popular shops or news, then you may hide those in the preferences.
Shopping Corner does not highlight available deals on websites, even if coupons or promotions are available.
Opera cooperates with different regional partners, according to the announcement. The price comparison service Idealo is the partner in Germany and the United Kingdom, in Poland, it is Ceneo, and in the United States, it is Amazon.
Polish users may also benefit from the integration of the cashback service Dify, according to Opera Software.
Microsoft added the functionality to the company's Edge web browser some time ago. Shopping in Microsoft Edge highlights if coupon codes are available for the visited website.
Closing Words
Shopping Corner aims to improve the shopping experience in Opera, and it is likely, but never mentioned, that it is also generating revenue for the company. The feature feels a bit out of place in its current form, as users need to launch Shopping Corner in the browser to use it. Indicators that coupons or promotions are available would certainly boost use of the feature in the browser, but maybe that is planned for a future release.
Now You: will you use Shopping Corner, or would you use a similar feature in your browser of choice?
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