Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
A presentation given at SLA 2011 in Philadelphia. One half of a panel entitled E-Commerce Taxonomies.
Citation preview
e-‐commerce taxonomy:
a union catalog you can shop in.
Jenny Benevento Sears Holdings Corp Twi7er: jennybento email: [email protected]
taxonomy of this presenta7on
about me about my employer & our collec7on
about our taxo
how it’s like every other taxo
how it’s different
what I expect of an e-‐commerce taxo
about me
librarian -‐public -‐academic -‐reference -‐cataloging -‐circula7on -‐serials -‐collec7on development -‐digital projects/metadata
employers -‐UIUC/IMLS -‐Associated Press -‐freelance -‐Sears/Kmart
taxos built
geography
people -‐poli7cians (even local) -‐celebri7es -‐corpora7ons
subject hierarchy
items classified
text ar7cles text archive photos video audio
automa7cally in the field
every news story every day
22 million items (Sears & other retailers)
240 million visitors annually
3 levels of hierarchy
20+ websites
20+ websites
products & services
~1 million Sears products
~21 million vendor products
Bed, Bath & Home
Appliances
Tools
Jewelry
Apparel
Books
Fitness & Sports
Baby
Automo7ve
Electronics
Toys & Games
Lawn & Garden
Outdoor Living Fitness & Sports
Fitness & Sports
Lawn &
Garden
Pets>Horse & Riding
Computers & Electronics
Office Supplies Beauty
Office Supplies Office Supplies
Office Supplies
cell phone service
dish network
downloads
ver7cal redesign vs.
ad-‐hoc changes
Three level hierarchy:
ver7cal = Clothing category = Women’s subcategory = Dresses
adributes = Color, Size, Brand, Sleeve Length
meet with stakeholders -‐-‐merchants -‐-‐SEO -‐-‐promo -‐-‐mobile
compara7ve analysis
what do you love? what do you hate? what are we selling a ton of? what should we be selling more of? what can I not change? what sites do you wish we were like? what sites do you hate? what will be different in 2 years? what do you wish you knew about our users?
it’s the same thing
636 -‐638 Pets 639 Fitness & Sports>Hun7ng 640 For the Home 641 Groceries 642 -‐643 For the Home>Kitchen & Dining 644 Appliances 645 For the Home>Furniture 646 Clothing 648 Groceries>Cleaning Supplies 649 Baby
physical objects & digital things (and services)
…but it’s different!
if my users aren’t happy, no one gets paid.
I support merchants.
I don’t control “collec7on development.”
correctness isn’t as important as findablity
the government makes laws about selling things that I have to obey.
trademarks are important
laws & trademarks & taxos
Carats are important
I fought the law.
toy guns!
blaster?
water guns
Wii guns
Nerf guns
paintball guns
Airsop guns
…and the law won
Blasters?
Blasters.
Trademarks Schrademarks
SnowTHROWers.
I work FOR
the business
Correctness isn’t as important
as findablity
Gun Poli7cs
Gun Rights
Gun Control
The Family Canidae (canids, commonly known as either dogs or canines) includes wolves, dogs, foxes and so on. They are the most social of all the caniforms, living in packs. The dog is the most diverse of all mammals in terms of body structure. The Canidae family is divided into the "true dogs" of the tribe Canini and the "foxes" of the tribe Vulpini. The two species of the basal Caninae are more primi7ve and don't fit into either tribe.
true facts about dogs
true facts about human shoppers
no one will ever look in the category Canidae for their dachshund sombrero & matching
poncho.
I don’t control “collec7on development.”
I will never meet the people who put items into my taxo.
There’s no way to punish them for “bad behavior.”
They WILL put things in the wrong place for convenience but also to get more sales.
It can go wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
if my users aren’t happy, no one gets paid.
or, “I pay your salary”
50%+ of site purchases are by consumers who browse the taxo.
That means hundreds of millions of dollars.
I don’t need to jus7fy the taxo department as vital to my company, because it’s how more than half of our customers buy things.
The CEO of a Fortune 50 company knows & cares about what taxonomy is and how it affects the business.
Can you say that about your intranet?
The defense “this is what will sell more things” wins most arguments.
Good taxo will ALWAYS sell more things
