AnswerOil seems like an interesting concept and a great technology but are they going to build a destination site out of it? Maybe they should just license their technology to the other guys

We are a group of MBAs that are running an amazon webstore as part of a WEB 2.0 technology course. All proceeds go to charity through http://www.globalgiving.com.

I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

http://www.retrevo.com/

I see two things in this service. First, widget-like shops that can be integrated into any vendor’s site (AnswerOil). That’s a really great idea. Second, a catalog-like site that lists all products and gets affiliates revenues (Mology). It’s very bright to execute both at the same time.

Now, with regard to Mology:

To achieve success with technically-inclined buyers, they’ll need to bring up price comparisons so they get as much affiliate revenues as possible. And feel more open by making sure they include all products available instead of only what’s available at amazon. They also would need to enable buyers to save their preferences.

To achieve success with non-technically-inclined buyers, they’ll need to bring up easier choice criteria. The technical details would probably be subcategories of these criteria, so everyone could add some of the few technical preferences they find important, too.

Adding small shopping guides in tooltips related to each category, to educate customers, would be a step further forward, and social-networking-like statistics and comments might also improve the value to visitors.

The company could also leverage the community by allowing it to submit corrections/additions.

All in all, the more the visitors will feel at home at Mology.com, the more they’ll feel confident, the less they’ll be inclined to ignore Mology’s affiliate links.

The First Service that will combine all these aspects in a well integrated solution might be the next strong internet player, alongside google, amazon, and etc. (or bought by one of them).

From what I’ve seen from PrismaStar in AnswerOil and Mology, PrismaStar might become that First Service. The quality of their preview releases makes me confident all my suggestions here are already incorporated in their plans, or have at least been thoroughly considered.

It felt really weird to see their exact implementation in AnswerOil of this idea I myself came up with in 2004 (and cherished unto this day without ever developing it). Priorities, targets, lines for criteria, dynamically-organized columns, all that was part of my first idea (and more). Up to today, I was really impressed nobody had developed it (at a scale that would at the very least compete with cnet). After all, I don’t claim the idea wasn’t obvious. It’s on the contrary really obvious and that’s one more reason to support the claim that a good execution would warrant success.

MyProductAdvisor.com really helps consumers. The brand promise to the consumer is based on a developed trust bond – no, you will not be sold anything, you will find what best meets your needs.

The company behind MyProductAdvisor.com, Market Insight Corporation, derives revenue by developing powerful market intelligence for retailers and manufacturers from the data supplied by real shoppers.

This is nothing new or special in my opinion.

It isn’t how you filter results, it’s what you filter. Most people have no clue how many megapixels they need or what type of memory is desired. All they know is they want to take photos of little Joey jumping off the diving board for the first time.

Guided nav needs to ask real questions like: Do you take photos outside? Do you take mostly still photos or fast action photos? etc.

Technology does not solve the real business issue here.

lessons in brevity

neat tool though

I agree with #6, http://www.omio.com is the best example of an innovative comparison UI that gives a great alternative to traditional filters.

impressive stuff, good as a primary or secondary source.

I think an important aspect of this market is that users visit a number of comparison engines before they buy, so its all important in this market to be the site where the purchase is made, no prizes for 2nd place if you are running an affiliate program.

At the end of the day, I may use this site to select my purchase, but I’m still going to go price hunting elsewhere on the net and choose the lowest price I can find.

So is the business model to attach this to a high traffic shopping channel?