Startups Vs. Amazon.com's Reviews
A post on GigaOM looks at several startups that are taking on Amazon.com's monster database of product reviews. The startups discussed in the GigaOM post include PowerReviews, Bazaarvoice, Reevoo and Ratepoint.While low prices and huge inventory are the main attraction at Amazon.com, the site's reviews have emerged as an essential online resource. Now, a new generation of start-ups wants to take on the shopping giant by spreading reviews across the web.Even if these new startups do a better job than Amazon.com of providing product information it is still going to be very hard for them to overcome the powerful branding behind Amazon.com.
As PowerReviews CEO Andy Chen puts it, he's building a "next-generation Epinions." His competitors in the distributed reviews space include Bazaarvoice and European-oriented Reevoo. Today, a new start-up, Ratepoint, is throwing its hat in the ring.
Posted on February 1, 2007
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Web Surfer's Choice: Cyber Monday or Buy Nothing Day
By now everyone is aware of the Cyber Monday shopping deals which can be found on ShoppersShop.com's Sales and Deals page, on Shop.org's CyberMonday.com page and many other locations including directly on retailer's websites like walmart.com. Last year, eBay was the surprise king of Cyber Monday. Many web users are probably at least checking out the deals and smart organized shoppers are probably making purchases to score deals and save on shipping. Marketing Vox says it was Shop.org that invented Cyber Monday.For people that detest the idea of days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday there is always Buy Nothing Day. Buy Nothing Day was created to counter Black Friday and Thanksgiving shopping and return the original meaning of Thanksgiving. The day has already past but there is no reason you can't celebrate it on Cyber Monday as well. Buy Nothing Day resources can be found here, here and here. Buy Nothing Day has even expanded into a Buy Nothing Christmas. A day for those who don't want to buy anything has expanded into a season for those who don't want to buy anything.
Posted on November 27, 2006
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Find Costumes at Costumzee
Costumzee is a new costume shopping site that lets you find costumes and costume ideas by using search tools and tags.
The purpose of costumzee is to help you find great costume ideas. You’ll find thousands of costumes on our site, organized by "tags". A tag is a descriptive name that represents a concept or idea. A tag may have zero, one, or many costume ideas in it.Costumzee pulls in data from online costume stores as well as eBay to help customers find a costume. You can see the Top 100 Costume Ideas. The site's blog also has some costume ideas for couples. (via Search Engine Watch)
Posted on October 11, 2006
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Elfster Simplifies Secret Santa Gift Exchanges
Elfster.com is an online service that helps people set up Secret Santa gift exchanges. One person has to sign up on Elfster.com to set up and organize the exchange. Once a Secret Santa exchange is underway Elfster helps people remain anonymous while still providing information about what kinds of gifts they like.
Elfster helps with both organizing an exchange and participating in an exchange.There is no charge to use Elfster.
For organizers, Elfster helps with the logistics of determining who wants to participate, drawing names, and communicating the names that were drawn. All this is done while at the same time maintaining the secrecy of who drew whom.
For participants, Elfster helps find the right gift for the person whose name you drew. For example, you can ask your person questions (such as "What's your shoe size?") that will help you get the right fit. But you are able to ask these questions in a way that will not give away your identity. In addition, participants can keep a wishlist to give their Secret Santa ideas of what might be good gifts.
Posted on December 15, 2005
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Shopzilla Solds to Scripps
The Search Engine Journal reports that Shopzilla, a shopping comparison and search tool, has been sold to EW Scripps, a large newspaper publisher and media company. This follows eBay's recent acquisition of the Shopping.com website. And some new shopping search engines have also been launched recently like Become.com and BrilliantShopper.com. Search Engine Journal also reports on a couple independent shopping search tools that are still left:Product review engine Become.com recently received US$7.2 million in funding. The "shopping vertical" -- though shopping isn’t really a vertical—is heating up. And there are still a few independent properties out there: PriceGrabber and NexTag among them.
Posted on June 8, 2005
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New Shopping Search Tools Debut
The Traders Trade Insider reports on two new shopping search tools. Become.com is a new search engine focusing on shopping that already indexes over 2 billion webpages. Become.com was developed by the founders of MySimon.com. Another shopping search called BrilliantShopper.com has launched in beta mode. The company says it has employed high-tech veterans from IBM, Disney, Ask Jeeves and KLA-Tencor. You can find a list of more shopping search tools here from SearchEngineWatch.com and search engines for specific stores can be found here on ShoppersShop.com.Posted on April 28, 2005
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