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WebSideStory Inc. is expanding its HitBox Commerce hosted services, which combine Web-site clickstream data with online sales data for real-time analysis. A new version of HitBox Commerce, available later this month, will have expanded analytical capabilities and a redesigned interface.

Hosted clickstream and E-commerce-analysis software from vendors like WebSideStory, Coremetrics, and IBM collect data from clients' Web sites, organize it, and make it available for analysis. Proponents of the hosted approach say it's easier and provides companies a quicker return than deploying a data-collection and -analysis system themselves.

The software's ability to analyze clickstream and online purchase data is key, says Robert Blumstein, an IDC analyst. "To be able to track those together reveals a lot about what buyers are doing," he says.

New analytical capabilities in the update cover shopping-cart abandonment rates, multistore tracking, customer types, stockkeeping units, average selling prices, and the impact of promotions or discounts. Custom variables can be used to segment products in more ways, such as by size or color. And cross-sell reports can now be run for a custom date range. The service also has more advanced drill-down analytical capabilities. Pricing starts at $1,500 per month for up to 10,000 transactions.