Shop smart and save?

So says the slogan on most of the product pages at Getprice, the Aussie online comparison shopping resource. Their contact page event tells us that:

“Our online merchants display their products with us so that you don’t need to visit various sites to compare and price what you need. Getprice does this for you making shopping easier, cheaper, and safer than ever before.”

Which is all very nice, except that if their software is too dumb or their online merchants deliberately or accidentally pollute the data they supply to Getprice, then it doesn’t make that service very “safe” or “easier”, does it? Take this example, for instance:

The Kodak Easyshare DX7630 digital camera. A very good beginners camera at an affordable price. Except that according to Getprice, it’s a little too affordable. Just $44 if you’re quick, folks. That’s right, just $44. But look closer and you’ll notice that the merchant is actually not flogging the camera for that price at all. They’re offering a lens adaptor, instead.

Not such a good deal, is it?

So, who’s to blame here? The merchant who may have accidentally or deliberately polluted the data they provide to Getprice or is it the inadequacy of the Getprice search engine? Their data feed specifications indicate that both the product name and description are supplied by the merchant, but exactly how does “Kodak Easyshare DX7630″ equate to “Kodak lens adaptor for DX7630″?

There are only two words in common.

As a user, I would expect a website to understand what I mean when I search for “kodak easyshare dx7630″. No, I don’t mean a lens adaptor. No, I don’t mean a battery. No, I don’t mean a case. Yes, I mean the camera. If I wanted a lens adaptor, battery or case, I would have said so.

And the fact that at the top of the results page is a lovely image of the actual camera, strongly suggests that the Getprice search software maybe isn’t that dumb because it somehow knew I meant the camera, not the lens adaptor, or the batteries or case. So why is the bottom of the page showing something else?

Shop smart and save? Maybe.

But fix your dumb software to stop wasting our time with invalid product listings first.

Posted in Design, Development, Marketing, Usability by Ivan