Bing shopping rings up big gains, eating Yahoo's lunch

When Microsoft (MSFT) launched Bing, a big part of the company's rationale was that the new search engine would make common online tasks much easier and enjoyable. As far as shopping is concerned, it appears that Redmond is doing a solid job in one of those key categories. According to research released today by Web traffic measurement company HitWise, traffic to the Bing.com/shopping has grown by an impressive 169% between the May 6 launch and August 8.

What's more interesting is that most of those gains appear to have come at the expense of Redmond's new partner, Yahoo Shopping, the comparison shopping category leader. One has to wonder if this is the sort of synergy that Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz anticipated when she signed a deal with Microsoft to cede her company's search fate to Steve Ballmer and pals.