

Ask HN: What would you as a user prefer? - korrozia

What would you prefer to have in a local product search results?<p>a)Search results coming from 5% of total local retailers (9 out of 10 of them big box retail shops) with non-guaranteed in-stock info<p>OR<p>b)Search results coming from 30 times larger total amount of local retailers (including majority of small shops, mom-n-pops, all big box, malls, small outlets) with "almost" accurate in-stock info coming from big boys and no or little in-stock info from small shops (but you can call and check)
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moconnor
In any case I'm only going to look at the top 5 or so results returned, so the
method used for ranking the results is much more important. Do (b) and show me
the closest two matches to my current or given location and the closest two
with in-stock info along with local travel times and opening hours for each.

It'd be nice if closest was in travel time, be that by car or public
transport, too.

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korrozia
To be able to show closest and cheapest the service will need to include more
stores obviously, correct? Cause if you use (a) then the potentially you're
missing vast majority of stores closest to you

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thewordpainter
depends on whether i'm looking for generic goods or hard-to-find items. also,
is price a primary concern?

typically, i think the 5% should cover the necessary items...but are you going
after a specific niche market?

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korrozia
No, all categories of products (except cars maybe :) )

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korrozia
And yes, price and distance are important of course.

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thewordpainter
it really depends on your niche. are you trying to be the aggregator of the
best deals in town? you'd probably want to be as comprehensive as possible in
that case!

for example, if you're trying to satisfy a number of different markets, i'd
say the top 5% would probably suffice.

good luck!

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meatsock
b) why on earth would i want to avoid a chance to spend my money on a local
mom n pop instead of sending my money directly out-of-town to some
conglomerate?

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korrozia
Good point. Still the same product, but is probably cheaper and closer to you!

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meatsock
_And_ its better for the local economy, which matters to me as much as price.

