Introducing the What Hi-Fi? shopping site (beta)
I think it's a great site, but I'd like to play a little devils advocate.
Just to be clear, I'm not questioning your impartiality (I love the mag). However, if you have a commercial interest in the sale of the products reviewed then some people might.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad for you in the long run.
On a cosmetic level:
The shop text is larger than the text in the main What hifi Menu along the top.
I think the text size would look a little neater if it was in keeping with the rest of the page / site.
Well, I understand it is beta but it is necessary to have help or information section where we can see the conditions, payment and shipping options.
As What Hi-Fi is renowned worldwide I also hope it will be possible to purchase internationally!
As What Hi-Fi is renowned worldwide I also hope it will be possible to purchase internationally!
You're not actually buying the stuff from WHF, it just directs you to the appropriate retailer, so all terms and conditions, payment and shipping options are down to those retailers and nothing to do with WHF.
And this is exactly why, if I was WHF, I wouldn't be touching this with a bargepole!
Just to be crystal clear, we're not actually selling anything ourselves. We're merely bringing together a basket of retailers' offers in one place on the website so it's easier for users to shop around and find good deals.
As What Hi-Fi is renowned worldwide I also hope it will be possible to purchase internationally!
You're not actually buying the stuff from WHF, it just directs you to the appropriate retailer, so all terms and conditions, payment and shipping options are down to those retailers and nothing to do with WHF.
And this is exactly why, if I was WHF, I wouldn't be touching this with a bargepole!
But it appears as if the retailers have been cherry picked, like Amazon, John Lewis, PC World etc. & not like the dodgy retailers you see on Google shopping.
Just to be crystal clear, we're not actually selling anything ourselves. We're merely bringing together a basket of retailers' offers in one place on the website so it's easier for users to shop around and find good deals.
Ah ok
I just assumed there was a fee for linking to products. If no money is changing hands then it is a different matter.
As What Hi-Fi is renowned worldwide I also hope it will be possible to purchase internationally!
You're not actually buying the stuff from WHF, it just directs you to the appropriate retailer, so all terms and conditions, payment and shipping options are down to those retailers and nothing to do with WHF.
And this is exactly why, if I was WHF, I wouldn't be touching this with a bargepole!
But it appears as if the retailers have been cherry picked, like Amazon, John Lewis, PC World etc. & not like the dodgy retailers you see on Google shopping.
Yeah, I must admit, I can't stand it when you see a good price for a product then you look at the "shop" and it's Matthew_k71 or something similarly unfamiliar.
Just to be crystal clear, we're not actually selling anything ourselves. We're merely bringing together a basket of retailers' offers in one place on the website so it's easier for users to shop around and find good deals.
I just assumed there was a fee for linking to products. If no money is changing hands then it is a different matter.SB, I thought exactly the same as you. No objection from me in principle even if WHF did get a per-click fee or a percentage of each sale, but it would need highlighting very clearly. Martin Lewis' moneysavings site does this well, IMO.
More fundamentally, I think showing '5 star' items only is not a good idea (accepting this is beta) because the implication is 4 stars isn't up to snuff, which we all know plainly is not the case. And if money is involved, it could certainly be preceived as likely to influence awarding more stars to obvious money spinners - say the next Touch or Sonos item.
I'm sure Andy Clough will clarify this. And three cheers for letting us have first dibs on the beta!
The only 5 stars thing is very much part of the beta - in time, we would hope the site would expand to cover products both reviewed and unreviewed.
And don't worry – as with advertising in the magazine, the shopping site, which merely allows users to search for the best deal while staying under the whathifi.com 'umbrella'', will have no influence whatsoever on the reviewing process.
Many thanks for the clarification, Andrew.
Just to be crystal clear, we're not actually selling anything ourselves. We're merely bringing together a basket of retailers' offers in one place on the website so it's easier for users to shop around and find good deals.
Does WHF make money on this?
I think that's the general idea – after all, we have to pay for this site somehow...
And don't worry - as with advertising in the magazine...
This is actually a good point
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The system's been serving a beta version of 'Latest Offers' on the bottom of reviews for a while now.
Consulting Editor, What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision/whathifi.com Audio Editor, Gramophone