February 21, 2005
MSN Shopping Beta
Pssst... wanna see the hot new beta at MSN? beta.shopping.msn.com
If this is the first you heard of the MSN Shopping beta, you are not alone...
February 1st - it all starts with an oh-by-the-way mention at Matthew@MSN.
February 2nd - the news is noted by TopRank (note: subscribe via Bloglines)
February 17th - call for feedback and link to an online survey by Andrew Ma.
February 18th - Sean gets a tip via email from one of his wonderful readers.
Live Site vs. Beta Site
It looks like Microsoft has decided to make MSN Shopping more than just another banner farm. The MSN Shopping beta has a clean layout that hints at real honest-to-goodness functionality.
 |
 |
| Old MSN Shopping |
Beta MSN Shopping |
The Good (+) Basic Usability
Drop-Down Menu
Very, very Amazon.com-like...
Breadcrumb Trail
This is one of those things you only appreciate when it is gone...
Ratings & Reviews
Yes! Another big source of reviews & ratings.
Price Range & Free Shipping
Pre-defined ranges are useful for (1) showing us how many items exists in each range (2) letting us make a selection without having to think too much (i.e. paper or plastic). Yet there is no "right range" for every person or every product. For example, when shopping for a car, instead of searching for a car priced from $30,000 to $40,000, I might want to search from $0 to $40000. After all, if all my other needs are satisfied by a car that only costs $25000, who am I to complain? This is why the pre-defined range links and the undefined range boxes make a great one-two punch. So far, so good.
The Bad ( - ) Feature Finding
Left-Side Refine Results
I know, I know, it is early beta and I am talking about layout. Reason: the current layout could be a limitation on the imagination. In other words, there will not be enough space in a vertical column to list all attributes for products like 
digital cameras.
No-Range Refine Results
This is just plain silly. We must select down to the hundredth of a megapixel? Perhaps ranges get added last. Now, if MSN really wants to take refinement to the next level, they could add a "name your own range" option for more features, not just for price.
Compare Checked Items
The ability to compare so many products is good stuff. But how do we get down to a short-list of products to compare, if we cannot drill down on the available attributes from the beginning? A classic example of putting the cart before the horse...
For example, we can only refine laptops based on Brand, Price, Seller, Processor Type or Processor Speed. Yet, I did a head-to-head comparison of several laptops, and the data grid contained features such as Weight and Average Run Time.
The Sony VAIO S260 claims 6.5 hours of run time? Excellent! Now what if I want to compare all laptops that claim more than six hours of run time? If product information is already available in ways that can be sorted, why not slice 'n' dice it?
Here is an example of the product detail grid that exists for digital cameras:
Summary
MSN Shopping beta is full of potential, but is this a upgrade or an overhaul? Is Microsoft aiming to build the best comparison shopping resource? If so, have they done the necessary benchmarking? (I hear the Organized Shopping project is a good starting point.) Will they stop at the current features of Windows Marketplace, or will they keep adding features for the 2005 holiday shopping season? And will I finally make good contact with someone at MSN Shopping? :-) I've put MSN Shopping on my numerous radar screens, so if anything happens you'll hear about it here.
MSN Shopping Beta
(2)
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on February 21, 2005 at 7:57 AM
Archived at MSN Shopping
Great review Sean! I wondered why I had so many views for that post. :-) Honestly I've never found a practical use for eshop.com unless it's with low-price point products [that I get notified of via MSN Alerts]. I still use a combination of web search, ad hunting and froogle.com. That said, eshop.com has done quite well since it's so tightly integrated into the MSN net. For example,
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/dec03/12-01RecordConsumers2003PR.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/dec04/12-14ProcrastinationCentralPR.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/nov04/11-29LeadingTheChargePR.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/nov04/11-26VOA2004PR.asp.
@Matthew
Hi Matthew,
Like you, I never found a use for eshop.com. However, since this post, I have talked to several people from MSN Shopping, and it sounds like they are on the right track. We might hear a very forward-thinking announcement from them in the near future.
p.s. - so many views? ...you are going to ruin my reputation as an underground phenomenon! :-)
