Shopping.com Ltd. on Thursday unveiled its online comparative shopping site in France, giving shoppers there the option of comparing retailers in several European countries, and the United States.

The cross-border site is the first of three the Brisbane, Calif., company plans to launch this year, one in the United Kingdom in several months, the other in Germany in the second half of the year.

Plans are also underway for the United States, but no timetable has been set, Daniel Ciporin, chairman and chief executive of Shopping.com said.

In Shopping.com, people in France can compare retailers and their products in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.

Ciporin said he sees more growth potential in Europe than in the United States for Shopping.com, which offers shoppers comparisons on product pricing, retailers' customer service and other areas. Actual purchases are conducted on the retailers' sites.

"The market in Europe is a very, very nascent market with lots of opportunity for growth," Ciporin said. "There's lots of opportunity for growth in the United States, but even more in Europe."

As an example, the United Kingdom accounted for 15 percent of Shopping.com's total revenue in 2004, up from 9 percent in 2002, Ciporin said. In 2004, Shopping.com had $99 million in sales.

A growing number of European consumers shop online at websites outside their home countries. In mid-2004, 27 percent of European online shoppers made Internet purchases outside their countries, according to Forrester Research Inc. The largest portion of shoppers, 39 percent, came from the United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, only 3 percent of online retail sales are across borders within the European Union, and only 40 percent of retailers are interested in such sales.

The reasons cited for avoiding cross-border selling is high fulfillment costs, regulations, such as varying consumer protection laws; and concerns over fraud, Forrester said.