Cool: Shopping Research Engine Become.com Adds “Find Nearby” Brick and Mortar Store Feature
Become.com, a very useful database that we like and use a lot for not only purchasing items but also for researching them is out today with a new feature called, “Nearby Stores” that’s powered with data from Yahoo Maps and info for more than 30,000 retail locations in the U.S.
Example: To find a local merchant(s) selling a product of interest:
1) Search for a product. Let’s try iPod Shuffle.
Note: Make sure to click the “Shop” search button.
2) Click Compare Prices
3) Enter Zip Code
Review Results
4) In this case, you can see that some of the merchants have brick and mortar locations in the NYC area. Click the link (let’s try J&R Music World) and a Yahoo Map appears along with directory info, store hours, and a link to get driving directions. Perhaps one day, in some metro areas, they will also offer public transport directions or at least links to get that info.
Nice work by Michael, Yeogirl, and the rest of the Become.com team.
Almost forgot, Become.com now looks great on Smartphones with mobile browsers. Adding the local store data makes this feature even more valuable. Use http://www.become.com and your mobile browser should be automatically recognized and the page optimized. Btw, Yahoo is beta testing Yahoo Shopping for Mobile. Other mobile shopping services:
+ Froogle via SMS
+ Smarter.com via SMS