Finding Gift Finders
All the search engines and comparison shopping sites in the world do not make finding that perfect sweep-you-off-of-your-feet present any easier. Either the person tells you what they would enjoy or you have a very good idea based on their interests and how / where you would like for them to use the gift.
Amazon pioneered and in my opinion maintains one of the best wish lists / gift services available today. Gift Central offers gifts by occasion, relationship and price range, registries and gift certificates all packaged easily for the buyer. As a bonus Amazon also shows items most wished for across the entire site, revealing that the 60th anniversary edition of It’s a Wonderful Life is a hot item this holiday season…
Now both eBay and Overstock announced new gift-finding features over the last few days to help shoppers with this challenging task on their respective sites.
Overstock Gift Finder
Overstock’s Gift Finder is a new wizard that helps buyers narrow Overstock’s 700,000+ products down to what may be appropriate for your recipient of choice (based on a series of questions on occasion, age, relationship and interests). The New York Times recently highlighted the new service along with other personalization features launched by Overstock.com.
The technology behind the service, which is provided by ChoiceStream, a Web site personalization company in Cambridge, Mass., essentially assigns a series of attributes to millions of items according to their brands, styles and prices, among many factors. The more the service is used, the more accurately it can predict which of Overstock’s items will appeal to people with a certain personality.
I have run through this wizard a few times to check if it returns anything remotely useful and i have to say that it is somewhat on track, recommending products that would not immediately end up on the “regifting” pile. Give it a try by searching for a present for a corporate occasion for a 35-49 old professional that is interested in high tech gadgets. Look! That’s quite an attractive Citizen Men’s Eco-Drive Multi-function Watch, if you ask me .
eBay Express Wish List
eBay quietly launched its new eBay Express Wishlist feature with a small “Wish List” link in the top right-hand corner and a promotional page on which it highlights what some iconic Americans are asking for this holiday season.
You can create multiple wish lists, add products directly from the item view via a Wish List button to one or multiple lists and then e-mail your list to friends and family. The feature feels a little rushed — there is no way for a fellow shopper to look up someone else’s wish list and no direct URL or “share this link on your blog” (or even on My World). Wouldn’t be surprised if they are already working on version 2.0.