Retrevo is a great example of the niche CSE

When I spoke with Jon Glick of Become.com about the site's latest redesign, he reiterated that the site's mission was to "give people all the information they need to make ideal buying decisions."   In other words, the more product information people have, the more qualified they'll be as merchant referrals.

Retrevo is a niche consumer electronics CSE launched in much the same spirit.  The site aggregates user manuals, user ratings, "expert ratings," forums, blogs, and, of course, shopping referrals. Retrevo has been live for about a year now.

What's unique about Retrevo is that it doesn't stop with simply aggregating relevant material -- it assembles the breadth of information into a usable, standardized, simple product rating called a "Product Snapshot."

Retrevo's Product Snapshot maps your TV, camera, or other search onto a price / feature matrix and places the item in question within a tier like "better than average feature set in mid-range" or something akin to this -- also including whether the community's reviews stack up to a positive, neutral or negative endorsement.

Retrevo is also a sign of bigger things to come in the CSE industry -- vertical search engines specifically tailored for products used by clearly-defined audiences.  It's almost like using Game Genie on your old NES...Retrevo lets you shortcut it to the relevant stuff in the quickest way possible.

The site is powered by Yahoo! Shopping on the product search side.

Written by Scott Hurff -- scott.hurff at channeladvisor

Comments

[Dazy Smith]

Hi everybody,

Can somebody suggest me a better online shopping website where I can purchase an Apple 160GB iPod at reasonable price. However, I searched the web and find the resources i.e.
http://www.topestore.com
http://www.latest-beauty-tips.com
http://www.safeshoppe.com
where the prices are compartively low.
Please suggest if you have some other better resources.

Dazy Smith

[Emma]

Hi Dazy,

www.buzzillions.com would probably be the most reliable source to not only read reviews on what you're looking for, but also compare prices from a number of different vendors.Here is the link for the Apple 160gb iPod you're looking for: http://www.buzzillions.com/x/s?Ntt=Apple+160GB+iPod&N=0&D=x&x=0&y=0

[Emma]

Hi Dazy,

www.buzzillions.com would probably be the most reliable source to not only read reviews on what you're looking for, but also compare prices from a number of different vendors.Here is the link for the Apple 160gb iPod you're looking for: http://www.buzzillions.com/x/s?Ntt=Apple+160GB+iPod&N=0&D=x&x=0&y=0

[Emma]

Hi Dazy,

www.buzzillions.com would probably be the most reliable source to not only read reviews on what you're looking for, but also compare prices from a number of different vendors.Here is the link for the Apple 160gb iPod you're looking for: http://www.buzzillions.com/x/s?Ntt=Apple+160GB+iPod&N=0&D=x&x=0&y=0

[Francisco]

Another useful site in this space is:

http://www.SmartRatings.com

It mainly aggregates expert product reviews but provides price comparison as well.