Have You Found Your StylePath?

Add a Comment

October 13, 2007 |

Phil Butler

StylePath is another venture aimed at marrying users to brands or products via Web technologies. Unlike recommendation engines we have seen, StylePath personalizes product recommendations to the individual rather than collaboratively. The focus for StylePath is on individual aesthetic preference and their patented visual search technology. The site is in private beta testing now, but is scheduled for launch next Tuesday. We thought you should have a look inside this interesting development before the place gets too crowded.

Humans and Machines

‘Cyborgs for shopping' seems like a stretch for 2007, but StylePath is attempting to integrate a sophisticated image recognition aspect with refined human search in order to create shopping relevance. Wow, I never thought I would be describing a recommendation/shopping center in this fashion. The point is, we are now seeing developments that at least attempt such a thing. According to the SP site, they have personally hand selected over 200,000 items to be indexed/cued by users for aesthetic relevance indexing.

stylepath

StylePath preference engine input

The Take So Far

Obviously, any private beta is going to be long on promise and short on content/features. StylePath is no exception, but it is a quite interesting concept already. I am particularly expectant of some degree of time savings and reduction of frustration levels for some shoppers. The stylish and Spartan looking site has speedy discoverability and if the individual preference matrix works (which I could not test), this could be a great shopping filter.

StylePath is the brainchild of Boston based architect David Hornstein. Hornstein collaborated with MIT Professor Dr. Dan Ariely in creating an AI based concept for personal selection. So far David and Co. have extruded some key features, that with refinement, may shift the way we think about shopping. These include:

Image based personalized search and matching

AI product matching for learning individual preferences

One stop comparison shopping from various sites

StyleSpace – A style centric social network engaging people with similar tastes

3D Decorator – An interactive application that allows users to decorate in virtual rooms

The initial StylePath offerings are of course sparse in this phase – they include offerings from home décor, lighting, kitchen and bath, rugs, jewelry, watches, shoes and handbags so far. The site intends to expand these choices to include apparel art and textiles soon, and if the system works I can see appliances and other home refinements easily integrated.

Miles To Go

I like the concept behind this development – aesthetic preference based on objects and their allure. The AI aspect is a little of a stretch unless hakia has lent StylePath something I am unaware of but some form of matching engine will obviously become evident. As for the social networking aspect, there is no current facsimile available and I did not see any of the tools required yet. This aspect will present itself shortly of reveal the cliché use of the term behind the development I expect. I think the important thing here is that we are witnessing yet another vision of how the Web can be bent around the user with technology.

3d shopping