REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 11 -- MSN Shopping ( http://shopping.msn.com/ ) kicks off the holiday season with brand-new comparison shopping tools, with thousands of retailers, a bigger-than-ever product selection, new search tools, and helpful gift guidance to help consumers find the best value and make holiday shopping easier than ever.

The brand-new MSN Shopping provides consumers with a quick and easy way to find the products and gifts they're looking for. Shoppers can search for a specific product such as a hot new toy that their kids asked Santa to deliver, or browse by product category for people on their gift list, including that person who has everything:

* Enjoy vast product selection. With tens of millions of products from thousands of merchants, consumers can find and get the best price on the products they are looking for -- from popular items like digital cameras to niche items like hand puppets.

* Find gifts for everyone on your shopping list. When shoppers need help deciding what to get someone on their list, they can look to useful product information such as feedback from previous buyers and Ratings and reviews from Consumer Reports. MSN Shopping also offers unique pages such as Editors' Picks and Top 10 Gifts by Store. Furthermore, this holiday season consumers can also check out gift ideas from well-loved mom and actress Shirley Jones.

* Receive helpful and relevant news from MSN Shopping. Consumers can choose to add current MSN Shopping news feeds to RSS readers, including MyMSN, to get information from MSN Shopping's top 10 categories and the top searched items on MSN Shopping -- spanning product information, price comparisons and consumer reviews and ratings for clothing, jewelry, books, electronics, software and more.

"I'm excited that MSN is now in the comparison shopping game -- we've built new, powerful tools to make it quick, easy and fun for shoppers to find what they are looking for from one of the largest selections available online," said Jim Barr, general manager for MSN Shopping. "MSN has ramped up our commitment to online retailing and now provides consumers with an ultimate shopping experience: Find exactly what you're looking for at the best price, all from the comfort and convenience of home, or anywhere you have an Internet connection."

To provide consumers with one of the largest selections available online today, MSN Shopping has collaborated with online shopping sites including PriceGrabber.com and Shopping.com. With seven times the number of retailers and 35 times the number of products, the new MSN Shopping has tens of millions of items from thousands of retailers. Products come from a range of the most-well-known brands and most-recognized merchants, from Target and FTD to mom-and-pop retailers with one-of-a-kind gift items.

Visitors to MSN will soon be able to shop in places beyond MSN Shopping, with the first step being to team up with MSN Search. MSN Search visitors will be able to receive instant answers to their product queries. For example, when consumers search for digital cameras on MSN Search, they will receive instant answers provided from MSN Shopping.

This holiday season shoppers also have the added convenience of the following easy-to-use services on MSN Shopping:

* Free Shipping Center. Consumers can avoid shipping charges with MSN Shopping's Free Shipping Center, which highlights merchants that will ship gifts for free. This service is especially useful for shoppers who are making oversized purchases or purchasing multiple items from one merchant.

* Procrastination Central. Perfect for last-minute shoppers, Procrastination Central on MSN Shopping begins Dec. 13 so last-minute shoppers don't have to worry about fighting mall crowds, or finding out that everything they're looking for is out of stock. Procrastination Central has hundreds of great last-minute gifts and will provide consumers with a selection of products that retailers can ship by Christmas.

* Exclusive savings program. This holiday season, MSN Shopping is collaborating with top retailers to offer consumers additional value through an exclusive savings program that offers up to 85 percent off the cost of popular gifts.