Ask Jeeves Monday launched its Shopping Advisor service in partnership with etown.com.
The tool allows
Web-based businesses to offer consumers a more efficient way to make
product-purchasing decisions online.
Rather than recommending products by their features, Ask Jeeves’ (ASKJ) Shopping Advisor offers merchandise based on consumers’ preferences.
“The IDA Shopping Advisor has been successful in allowing us to tailor
specific product recommendations to our customers,” said Robert Heiblem,
CEO of etown.com. “We have implemented the service so our customers could make more informed purchasing decisions and find the right products at the best price.”
Set up as a question-and-answer dialogue, Shopping Advisor asks questions
that closely match a consumer’s criteria, such as: “How big is the room
where you’ll be setting up you home entertainment system?” The program then
matches up customer preferences with feature sets to recommend specific
products.
“With the upcoming holiday rush and the continued growth of e-commerce,
consumers need solutions to help them make educated purchasing decisions,
especially for complex and expensive products,” said Chris Martins, senior
customer relationship management analyst with Aberdeen Group.
etown.com is an online content provider of consumer electronic news,
reviews buying guides and shopping choices. The current etown feature, titled Shop with IDA, offers advice for a host of categories, including DVD players and cordless phones.