Just when you thought there were enough search engines out there. A few more show up.
This article is interesting because of economics. Basic economic theory relies on the fact that people are rational beings and that we have perfect information. While these things are true in a classroom they are anything but true in teh real world.
However companies like these new search engines are really doing a great deal to change reality and arm consumers with much better information. (They cannot help with rationality but its a start.) We have already seen big changes in the economy due to better information but there is still a long ways to go, and opportunities for new companies to make money along the way.
Collecting and organizing this much information from so many different sources is a huge challenge but I continue to be impressed with the companies that are able to do it. We truly are living through an information revolution.
Search Engines Help Shoppers To Buy Locally
December 21, 2006
Wall Street Journal
Now that shoppers are accustomed to scouring the Web for the best prices on everything from TV sets to handbags, a new breed of search engine aims to help them figure out which local stores have the goods in stock.
Last week, a company called NearbyNow began offering shoppers at three malls in California and one in Arizona a chance to check merchandise availability at most of the malls' stores by sending text messages from their cellphones. A similar service called Slifter, from GPShopper Inc., focuses on the availability of electronics and toys at big chains like Best Buy Co. and Staples Inc. Other companies, including Google Inc., are building networks to help shoppers figure out what's at local stores before they get there.
Online local searches have been around for a while, but they have been hit or miss, largely because inventory information at the store level is hard to get. A site called Yokel.com1, for example, does a far better job of finding merchandise in its hometown of Boston than elsewhere around the country. Yokel Inc. Chief Executive Scott Randall says it will take a year for the company to cover the nation's 25 top metropolitan areas as well as the service covers Boston. And Shoplocal.com2, one of the largest local shopping sites, plans to overhaul its site early next year to better highlight the local offerings it gathers from newspaper advertising circulars. Right now, those offerings are often mixed in with online deals.
