Shopping, Web 2.0 Style
February 25, 2007 |
There are many ways to shop online. Thousands of specialty stores hawk all types of goods and services. There we see Amazon as king. Then there are smaller operations, like TigerDirect, Newegg, Musicians Friend. The long tail is at the bottom. It’s where mom-and-pop shops are vying for the attention that either don’t want to look for stuff sold by the big retailers or get stuff they can’t find any place else. They are the storefronts where you’re most likely to find one-of-a-kind items, like premium import chocolates and handmade crafts. Today we analyze how shopping has changed online and how Web 2.0 technology is finding a home in three particular marketplaces, two of which stick with the tried and true and another that likes to experiment a bit more.
BrowseGoods, BlackDogAir, and Like.com are similar in concept, and all try to help you attain the best visual online shopping experience possible. Each will appeal to certain folks with their unique layouts, but two out of the three offer only the best of one world. Those two are BrowseGoods and BlackDogAir.
For Amazonians, BrowseGoods and BlackDogAir offer great visual guidance to those searching for specific products. In its current state, BrowseGoods offers shoppers four categories: shoes, sports, toys, and watches. By default, you’re sent to ‘shoes’, but we suspect that is only because the category appears to be BrowseGoods’ largest. The site’s interface is quite the impressive concoction, however. When zooming down into the wealth of product choices, you start to feel as if you’re closing in on the images in a mosaic. If BrowseGoods managed to make the sub-categories of the sub-categories (visit the website to better understand our poor description) resemble generic products from “afar”, we would be absolutely delighted. Thought that’s not the case, the site’s construction and zoom-ified menu system is quite clever, regardless.
BlackDogAir (we’re still trying to understand the meaning of the name) is focused on Amazon’s music, movie, and book databases. Click on any category or search for a title, author, etc., and you’re shown an expanded web-like menu of product choices. Roll your mouse over a product to view a larger image of the cover. I’ll admit right now that I favor BlackDogAir simply for the fact that I shop far more often for media than shoes or watches online, but it’s hardly the more visually-appealing of the new Amazon-centric shopper sites.
Both guide you through a vast cadre of products, but the supply only resides on Amazon’s shelves. That’s great if you prefer to shop Amazon and no place else, yet happen to find navigating its database unsatisfactory. If multiplicity is what you’re after, neither will do you any good. Instead, look to Like.com to satiate your taste for clothing, shoes, and accessories whose origins can very well be an Amazon warehouse, but aren’t required to be so.
Like.com, if we’re honest, is the best of the bunch. One caveat though. No books. No movies. No music. So three caveats, really. But other than that, it’s probably the most well-assembled “visual shopping” Web 2.0-esque portal on the web. And we think we know why. It was made by the folks who delivered Riya to the world.
Built on the same recognition software as Riya, Like.com can either be browsed via a Hot Picks menu, or by items seen in celebrity images and items dubbed trendy by fellow “Likers.” You won’t find much in the way of garnish here, but you’ll find an unsurpassed selection of vendors – and thus better choices overall.
I’m sticking with BlackDogAir, simply because books and music are my loves. All three services are bound to close all gaps in the months/years to come, however, so go ahead, dive in and discover which one you favor the most.
