6 problems with Online Shopping Directories

Oct 26, 2009

6 problems with Online Shopping Directories

6 problems with online shopping directories

I admit,this post is a rant. (Fashiono.my’s policy is to write things as it is, even if it is not pretty) This post is a rant about all the problems with Online Shopping Directories in Malaysia. “But why? It’s a place where you can find ALL blogshops in Malaysia in ONE place. Isn’t it great?”. No, not really. Trust a girl who was so into online shopping and annoyed with not getting accurate information quickly, she decided to start her own online shopping guide. I’ve clicked almost each and every blogshops and found many problems in the Online Shopping Directories…

1. Outdated

One thing that annoy me most is that the directories are outdated! I’ve clicked on many blogshops which the latest update was last year, moved, stop operating, went on a hiatus (and never came back), etc. But they are still in the shopping directory! Wonder why you get Yellow Pages every year? Because things change. We should follow the change closely or be left out. That is true especially for online shopping directories as blogshops can bet set up and close easily)

2. Not as many as claimed to be

This goes back to the fact that directories are outdated. I was so overwhelmed with the numbers of blogshops in Malaysia that I mistakenly thought ‘‘Wow, there are thousands of blogshops here! Online Shopping must really be popular‘. That is untrue. We may have many blogshops, but not as many as claimed or we thought there are.

3. Repetition of blogshop

It is probably some technical mistake but I found that some blogshops are repeated in directories. While this may be petty, it’s just not accurate. It can be downright annoying when you click all links in a category to find something you like only to found you are directed to the same blogshops again.

4. Not complete

Unfortunately, many directories works in the ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours’ way i.e “I link you, you link me”. I didn’t realise this until I was browsing some directory to look for one of my favourite blogshop and couldn’t find it. I thought maybe they missed it. Later on, found out that many directories require blogshop owner to put the link of the website on their blogshop before including it in their directory. I realise that blogshop don’t happen to link anyone and hence is not in any of the directories. So how complete can a directory be?

I think an Online Shopping directory should include ALL proper blogshops, regardless of whether they want to link you back. Requesting to be linked are understandable as it would generate more traffic and make the site looks popular. However, that should never be in the expanse of the readers. A directory should include all proper blogshops without requirement. I believe that when readers read your site, they trust you and deserve the best information that you can give. Holding back useful information for popularity reason should not happen.

5. Wide categories

A friend asked me to look for a bikini for her. I thought I’ll check out the online shopping directory and look for ’swimwear’ category or something similar. But no, (then) there’s no such category in that directory. I then studied the rest of the categories and they all seem too wide. To be fair, many blogshops sell different things so it is hard to categorise them. However, I believe more categories would make looking for a certain type of item easier.

6. Obstructive advertisements

As a shopper, I don’t fancy advertisement which are all over the place. It interferes with my reading pleasure. Those which blinks and take a long time to load are by far the worst! I visit a site for information, not to be bombarded with advertisements. Yes, advertisements are necessary to keep the site running. However, I feel that there should be a balance between advertising and reader’s comfort.

What a hypocrite, you’re building an online shopping directory too!

Yes, Fashiono.my is building an online shopping directory too. However, we are building one because we realised the problem above and endeavour to rectify it. If you own a blogshop haven’t fill in the form to be listed in the directory, do it now already! For those who did, please wait for a little while as it should be up very soon!

Category: Online shopping

Tagged: Online shopping directory, outdated, problems with online shopping

allshops

A very well organized and ranked shopping directory is http://www.all-shops-directory.com/

miss pepper

i've just stumbled upon ur blog today, and i have to say this, u just amazed me! i love your blog, friggin love it! your topics are very much interesting. keep it up yea :)

p.s: i've filled in the form :D

Blogshop owner.

One thing that really annoy me is that most of the popular online review blogs doesn't have quite good sense in sourcing and putting up good clothes/bags/shoes etc. They shouldn't really pay attention to the price but instead the appearance, eg how that its really one of a kind item. In my opinion, if you want to be a good reviewer you should then really post up good stuffs. Not just the one that are cheap & you think is a great buy.

And yes, the link-me-and-ill-link-you-back method is a common method used by reviewers to gain popularity. It's really unethical.

Kudos to fashiono.my for the write-up on bringing up on this matter. I'm glad that someone decided to come up with a review blog like fashiono.my :)

FASHIONO.MY

About the pricing, i think its is understandable that reviewer post things which are affordable. It seems to me that one of the major reason why people buy online is that it is cheaper. The poll Fashionomy conducted shows that people are most interested in Budget Buys.

But of course, posting good stuff is very important. Many people who love fashion are looking for smth unique or trendy. I personally would pay more for something nice. I think the importance for reviewers is to strike a balance between finding good items and affordable ones.

Thank you for the compliment! That really make our day :)

Beauty Quotient

Agree with many of your comments above - one of my pet peeves is being bombarded with loads of advertisements on a shop or directory. Whilst I realise that advertisements are a great revenue stream on what is essentially a free directory, it doesn't hurt to be tasteful! It's great to see that you have the right idea in building a quality online shopping directory. This will help online shops in Malaysia to move forward and hopefully encourage more people to buy online! Keep up the good work.

FASHIONO.MY

Agree. A lot of advertisements is fine, as long as it blends in with the page and doesn't takes forever to load. A good example is www.karencheng.com.au. I usually ignores those advertisments which are too glaring. I believe most people are like me. So it would defeat the purpose of the advertisement.

Name

& speaking about business ethics, reviewers have their share to learn up too. good to see someone setting a good example. ;)

FASHIONO.MY

As far as ethics go, I am against advertisements which are not revealed.

Not telling your readers that it is an advertisement is tantamount to cheating. Esp when you're a site with reputation and ppl believe what you say, its not honest to not tell you have receive payment to write something.

I also believe that advertisements should be revealed clearly, not written at the bottom of the page or with fine prints.

What other practices do you think reviewers should adopt?

Name

Yes, and it is extremely important that readers are assured that reviewers aren't bias.

From reader's point of view, it's good that reviewers expose us to blogshops that we never noticed before. But once I get to know that it's an advertorial writeup, I can't help but wonder how honest the reviewer is. Especially testimonials from customers-- just how credible can those be? And who would publish a two-sided message-- the good and the bad?
It's good to know people trust your service, love your affordable price tags, BUT it would also be great that blogshop owners acknowledge their mistakes (especially when customers are willing to give them feedback) so that we can see if these blogshop owners will improve.
Okay, I'm aware that I kinda drifted off from reviewers to blogshop owners, but I agree that reviewers should be honest even though they are paid to write up about a blogshop. Credibility is what I'm looking for.

And, what do you think about reviewers who also are blogshop owners? Do you think it's right? Because I see a conflict of interest in this. But of course, pre-loved blogshops are fine.

FASHIONO.MY

Advertorials write up are fine, as long as it is revealed to the readers that they are paid to write it. It is up to the reader to believe what the writer has to say.

I dont quite believe testimonials from customers. Even if they are true and not faked, chances is that the person in business wouldnt publish smth negative about them. Those that do, I salute.

Yes, agree that reviewer should be honest and write what they think even if they are paid. If they don't like that particular product, I dont think they should recommend it to others at the first place.

Which reviewers also owns a blogshop? I dont think its wrong as long as that person reveals her dual identity in the review blog and write impartially. I think if she promotes her own site, she should make it clearer to others that its an advertorial.

Name

So I guess it applies that we shouldn't believe everything we read.
That sounds like a good solution if they do own a blogshop and do reviews as well. Thanks, you kinda open me up to what I used to think is impossible.

Well, from the start we did not mention any names although I know very well which reviewer you're talking about, so let's not get started with mentioning names. (:

I think I've shared enough for now. Thanks for replying my comments, because I definitely changed my perception a little. Keep up the good work.

Cheers!

FASHIONO.MY

I think we generally shouldnt believe in everything we read. A good example is our mainstream media. Even reviewers who doesnt own a blogshop, could be bias/make a mistake/conceal advertorials as personal opinions, etc. I'm not referring to anybody, just possibility of things that can happen. I wasn't referring to anybody from the start (hope I didn't offend anybody who thought I was talking about them!)I was just writing what I saw generally. Thanks for writing in!

Name

i like you because you're one of the very few who chooses to do things right.. so far. (: the balance between advertisement and reader's comfort.. damn well said. thanks for not putting money-making as your top prority. i really appreciate that.

FASHIONO.MY

Thanks. But I think it's hard to achieve that balance though (if one actually try to do that, in the first place). When those sites become their main source of income and they spend a lot of their time in it, they would want to earn as much as possible? Still, I believe earning, ethics and enjoyment (yours and readers) can coexist.