Thursday, April 12, 2007

Buzzillions.com - Search for what you want by reviews, not by product.

Buzzillions.com is a new site that allows users to search through product reviews from many major online retailers. Through Buzzillions.com, you can search for "Backpacks." Then, you can refine your search based on specific backpack's with a "Best Use" for Day Trip or Extended Hike, and with the Pro's of "Comfortable" and "Durable." Search results display product reviews prominently, and allow you to quickly search available products based on detailed reviews.

Most web retailers use a product based method to help customers make buying decisions. For example, an online retailer has a big database of products. They know detailed information about each product, i.e. Widget X is this big, this wide, this color, has this feature, etc. Naturally, most E-commerce searches are based on these product attributes. A quick visit to priceline.com, shopping.yahoo.com, et. al., would show that a large number of products are sold by many retailers. This forces a retailer to use the Product's Price to differentiate their Widget X from another retailer selling the exact same product on these marketplaces. This is good for the consumer, but bad for the retailer. Also, one might find as the price for an item goes down on these marketplace sites, eventually it becomes unprofitable to sell that item. Few successful businesses were built on the concept of selling items for a loss, but people continue to try. When their intial funding runs out, these businesses shut their doors and leave customers in the wind.

Amazon.com, and other retailers, assist customers in their buying decisions using complicated mathematical algorithms based off previous behavior, Customer Reviews, and other user generated content. These are effective methods of helping customers choose which item will fit their needs.

Buzzillions.com goes deeper, and asks more questions. It seems to be the highest refinement of product review searches on the web. Beats epinions.com hands down.

Feel free to comment, and tell me why you think I am wrong.

No comments: