Online Help for Your Holiday Shopping

Nov. 28, 2007 — -- With a holiday shopping season that is projected to be the weakest in five years, retailers, both online and off, are offering a multitude of incentives and deals to get people spending. Savvy shoppers will need to separate the come-ons from the real deals to find the best bargains. Here are a few innovative sites that go beyond price lists and user review aggregation to deliver real value and savings to consumers.

Krillion is an online resource for offline shopping, compiling information about pricing and special sales on major appliances and HD TVs in users' local markets. It's tailor-made for those of us who research products online, then head to the store to see them firsthand before buying.

Users searching for Maytag refrigerators, for example, enter their zip codes and are presented with a list of stores in their area selling the desired model, as well as the current price. A convenient "click-to-call" button next to each location connects the user directly to that appliance department.

Other features on the results page include product reviews, model specs and details, and the ability to view results by map location. The company also recently introduced StockCheck, which gives consumers real-time local product inventory at six leading retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City and Radio Shack. The site will roll out new categories of cameras, camcorders and game consoles this week.

PowerReviews provides a hosted platform for customer product reviews to major retailers, as well as a shopping portal, Buzzillions.com. Visitors to Buzzillions or any of more than 200 online stores, including REI, Toys 'R' Us and Staples, can access reviews and recommendations from fellow consumers with similar interests and shopping patterns.

With the ability to narrow product selection based on customer feedback, and groups created for each product category that reflect lifestyle and demographics, PowerReviews offers a unique recommendations system that allows shoppers to make buying decisions based on feedback from real buyers. Buzzillions also features a fun little application called VisualDNA, which creates a holiday wish list for you according to images you find most appealing.