Yahoo! Shopping (the #1 on our list of popular sites) has recently announced a new web site design. As their blog goes:
Bargains, product advice, improved search – our redesigned Yahoo! Shopping site has a shopping-cart-load of new tools and personalization features – just in time for the holidays.
I have never been a big fan of Yahoo! Shopping and after taking a look at the newly redesigned site I still stick to my opinion.
If I go through the long list of new features just two things really stand out and these are 1) integration of Yahoo Answers and 2) addition of Bargains and Coupons section.
- Yahoo Answers is a portal where you can ask questions about everything and get answers from others like you and from a few editors that Yahoo! hired to make things a little bit more interesting.
While by itself this is a great web site (I personally used it a few times — once to find about differences between private an public schools when my older one went to the first grade) I don’t see how it can improve my shopping. When I shop I usually want to do my research in a very narrow product niche. Quality user reviews regarding a specific model, brand or a store is all I need.
- Bargains and Coupons is a feature that Yahoo! team seems to have done right. You can browse all sales and coupons in one place and — most importantly — you can see relevant coupons/promotions by the item details when you shop. This really brings the information to where I can make a good use of it.
As long as Yahoo! keeps the database full with a fresh supply of promotional offers — this new feature should be a valuable addition.
Other minor updates include Buying Guides in each shopping category (this in essence is a round-up of hand-picked articles collected from sources like ConsumerReports and Epinions) and improved browsing and filtering (by price range, brand, store, etc). These are pretty much standard features and Yahoo! is really playing catch ups with the rest.
Another thing worth mentioning is a huge number of ads scattered all around the web pages. Hello, Yahoo! Why scare off shoppers with the huge flashing billboards? Shouldn’t affiliate commission already make your stockholders happy? I guess you can never have enough…
Conclusion. Don’t waste your time and instead check the new breed of shopping portals. Yahoo’s only strength is its well known brand name IMHO.
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