Bizrate.com is a shopping web site that has products including furniture, jewelry, clothes, and computers. This website links the consumer with a dazzling array of products and suppliers. Customers can buy from various sellers who have agreements with Bizrate.com to list their products. Bizrate.com is quite user friendly with listed categories and a search engine. Navigation is easy. Consumer feedback appears to be on individual product pages and reviews both the product and the seller.
I chose to do a search on a Coach purse. They have a link on their home page for handbags and totes where you can just browse or search for a particular brand. It was easy to search for Coach purses. I clicked on the purse of my choice which was an ocelot animal print handbag. The product information included a product description, product dimensions, shipping rates, and a place for customer reviews. The purse I chose did not have any consumer reviews. The seller had near perfect ratings. I consider the information provided to be detailed and helpful.
Lawyers, plumbers, contractors, and real estate agents are just a few businesses that could benefit from a consumer rating system. The danger here is that only the extremely happy or the extremely disgruntled customers will bother to leave a review.
A Decisions Support System is highly detailed taking into consideration all information assets, providing sales projections, comparative sales figures, and consequences of certain decisions. It helps a business to make decisions. Bizrate is similar in that it helps consumers make decisions about whether or not to buy from a retailer based on certain standards. Bizrate helps sellers by keeping track of their performance so they can adjust their performance as necessary. It helps buyers to buy from reputable sellers and warns buyers to stay away from sellers who do not have a high seller rating.
