Improvements to Interpreted Search
I wanted to update everyone on some recent efforts we've made to promote diversity and reduce redundancy in search results.
Say you wanted to search for "candle" in our old search:
They certainly look like candles! But all is not quite as well as it seems. Firstly, many of these results aren't actually candles, but candle holders. The first thing we need to do is figure out if the buyer intended to buy a candle or a candle holder. The second problem is that the likelihood you'll find exactly what you're looking for in these 8 results is extremely low. Instead of settling for arbitrary results (as other marketplaces have always done), we decided to try to come up with something better:
Notice how the results are now separated into groups that help the buyer quickly drill down to find what they're really after. Some of the groups are candle holders, some are candles. Some of the brands are handmade by our sellers ("Soytreasures LLC Candle"), some are major brands ("Yankee Candle"). Suddenly, instead of having a mix of eight arbitrary candles and candle handlers, we are representing more than 800 possible items to browse from our top two rows of results.
What next? Let's say that we scroll down this page and decide we want to browse the candles offered by Beanpod Candles:
Upon clicking the grouped entry, we dynamically pop out the top 20 results for this item, plus a link to browse more if the buyer is interested. If not, they can keep perusing the results to compare Beanpod to other candle makers and find the one that they were after.
We believe that, especially as buyers increasingly arrive and browse from mobile devices, nobody wants to scroll through 10,000 items to find the perfect item they were looking for. Our interpretive search will "understand" the different meanings of a search query and present bunches of items that are grouped such that the buyer will waste minimal time finding exactly what they were after.
And we're not done yet! In the next couple weeks, we're got several improvements planned for this tech. We plan to give quick previews of the item groups (without needing to click), give price ranges for the various product groupings, and ensure that we maximize the quality of the catalog (Kaleidoguide) that works as the backend to provide us this structured understanding of what's what.
If you have a chance, give this new search a try and let us know what you think! We're especially interested to hear from buyers who are browsing for product.
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18 responses to Improvements to Interpreted Search
This completely confuses me. I do not understand what the blue icon represents and it does not seem to work.
Example, I want to buy my niece some “Juicy Couture Charms”. This is item specific, you do not need to ‘guess’ what I want. I type that in search. On the second row I see a cute blue whale but no price. I wonder how much it costs and want more info. I click on it and nothing happens, BUT everything under it disappears. So I start my search over, knowing I better not click on the blue whale. So, this time I click on the white bunny to see what it costs and who I buy it from. No click through to item, and all items under disappear. As a shopper, I might give up at this point.
What am I missing??
Yes, for specific search terms, you will get specific results. So with your example, you only have four options on that one row (that has the blue bags, which is our Kaleidoguide icon) to pinpoint your search. Just below that are the regular search results for your specific search term. Now if you were to instead search for say, “Charm,” then you will see a much greater level of options to help you find a specific charm.
Hey MTT,
Thanks for the feedback. If you’re not seeing anything after you click on it, that’s a bug. What normally happens is that a bunch of items (including the one you see above) are to appear when you click on an item with a blue icon. Can you email support details of what your browser is and if the problem happens every time? This will help us diagnose and fix ASAP.
How would I buy or find the price of the blue whale charm in my example or the white bunny? I cannot click through, and when I do all items vanish from my search screen?
I think what you are saying is that as a buyer I should know not to click on anything with a blue icon?
The images for the Kaleidoguide are images that best represent items in that category (think of it as a category landing page). In any case, we reserve the right to listen to all feedback and make changes that benefit everyone. Thank you for taking the time to comment on this new feature and feel free to send more targeted feedback and suggestions to support.
In the meanwhile, some of us are missing out on sales during this pre-holiday shopping time since there is no way for us to accept electronic payments without PP or Amazon…
Please give us the capability to accept electronic payments before tinkering with other stuff. I am getting hungry.
Interesting changes with the search. I will have to take some time to work with it.
On a side question, can you explain what the section called “Related Retailer” that appears on the lower section of the left column? In your example above, it lists: Target, Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, and Pier 1.
Thank you.
Other sites allow you to subtract terms. For example, if you want a candle, but not a candle holder, you would type in “candle -holder”. I’ve always found this works very well, and the search function does not need to “guess” what I’m looking for.
Has this been implemented? I just searched “Antique Doll” and I had to page down to actually find one. Stuffed animals, doll magazine and a bunch of other stuff came up. I did not see any icons.
This sounds great! Keep up the good work
I like the search options. Thanks for your efforts to improve the site.
This is VERY different than other selling sites searching results – maybe too different at this time. I use our search for products a lot, but really get anxious at the difference and uniqueness of our search – many times I just give up. I know we have a lot of products now, but the SIMPLER we can make Bonanza and have it work the better.
I watch the Community Help page and view way too may questions from new Sellers that shouldn’t be there because we have complicated Bonanza to the point you can’t just “set up shop” and start selling.
So, to put it briefly:
Simplify
I’m sure this is the exact problem I’ve been having but couldn’t put into words…. with coins! Try doing some of your searches on certain coins and WOW Bonanza doesn’t even come close to searching for and of the coins with in the Bonanza Selling community which I may add has grown considerably over the five years that I’ve been Bonanzling
Wow I’m almost 5
Good idea.
Here are a few suggestions:
Have only 3 rows open up when clicking on an image that represents a group. There’s a lot of scrolling going on where it is likely that the shopper will get confused, overwhelmed.
Also, enlarge the font for the word “close,” consider changing the color to green (maybe even just put a red X beside close) so that it is easier to spot and also include this tool down where it says, for example: “see all 132 items” but also have the “close” gadget near this area also. You could even have it say “see all 132 items or close.”
Or make the drop down image have only 2 rows that come up and the word close will be more readily available to them in order to maneuver through search easier. Or have these images that come up in the drop down be smaller than the rest of the images that are on the screen in order to help the buyer distinguish these images from the rest of the search.
Have been wondering why the, “Sponsored listings”, don’t show their free shipping icons in the search results.
wondering, did everyone get two sets of daily tokens on Oct 28th? two are showing up in my daily activity. not complaining
Question, do you think these reviews being on our listings will do more harm than good? The main reason I ask is because those stars at the top look like it is me that is being reviewed/rated rather than the item itself. Why can it not be a link that has to be clicked to open in order for the shopper to see the review (no stars visible in the listings)… This way a shopper will not just glance at the stars and think it is my personal rating, Food for thought here, something worth thinking about.
Thank you.
dear everybody with ideas….“Thank You” for writing above.
i am studying the Site and a Variety of Seller’s booths
to understand the Whole, Big , Thing called “Bonanza”.
i’m Glad You folks have good feedback ideas on this subject,
‘cause i know it’ll Help me get Going…Soon ; i Hope !
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