August 10 2006

Amazons "Search Suggestions" - user contributed content at its best

Never shy about outsourcing work to its ever-eager customers, Amazon has added a new feature to its website - allowing customers to suggest terms and definitions that other users may find useful... Retailers should note - it's a great way to address lexicographical and synonym-related problems.

Amazon has today announced its anticipated 'search suggestions' capability.

The press release gives a good example:

For example, thanks to a recent Search Suggestion from an Amazon.com customer, the Shakespeare play "Macbeth" now appears when customers search for "The Scottish Play." The customer's explanation is shown next to a link to the book: "theater superstition dictates that 'Macbeth' is referred to as 'the Scottish play.'"

This will ring bells with retailers, struggling with their terminology on the websites. How many people anguish over whether a nightshirt is a) lingerie b) sleepwear c) nightwear d) apparel (women's, sub-section bed)... you get the point.

Thesaurus and synonym preparation in merchandising systems can help here, but the two problems are maintenance (how much effort goes into these after the initial launch?) and phrases. Where users look for things with a descriptive phrase, slang or hitherto-unrecorded attribute then software systems struggle.

This approach by Amazon is like have a persistently tuned and improved human editor, guiding one's navigation and terminology.

As Amazon so chirpily puts it:

"Amazon.com is all about helping customers find whatever they are looking to buy online," said Matt Round, Director of Software Development, Amazon.com. "Search Suggestions empower the broad Amazon.com community to help other customers find what they're looking for. If you're passionate about a product, help it be discovered -- make a Search Suggestion today."

.

Some pertinent examples are noted of recent improvements:

* Searching for "cheryl tweedy" now finds music and posters from the band Girl's Aloud, of which tweedy is a member * Searching for "stolen data" now finds the book, "I.T. Wars: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium" * Searching for 'bn-v12u charger' now finds the compatible battery charger "ESA Battery Charger"

Wonderful! It's great to have thousands of users helping out with product descriptions rather than the half dozen overstretched merchandising staff in the typical eCommerce team!

The next step surely is for Amazon to sell on their user-contributed product naming database... :)

Ian Jindal