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Epinions International(e): 'REVIEWERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!', or, 'Where art thou, Madhuri Dixit?'Nov 14 '01 (Updated Nov 19 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Why doesn't Epinions branch out from the US and expand into other 'markets' - it would seem in the best interests of all concerned - most especially Epinions itself!
I've seen a couple of general comments by members outside the US, primarily on the topic of the difficulty of receiving payment (e.g., see selden's article @ http://www.epinions.com/content_1229627524), but I've actually been musing about a slightly different point: WHY DOESN'T EPINIONS EXPAND ITS MARKET into other countries? In another words, why doesn't Epinions have links from the reviewed goods (like books, for example) to shops in countries outside the USA? It would seem only to be in Epinions best interests to broaden its base, so to speak. I can understand that 'internationalising' must present some difficulties, but this could be implemented slowly. Links to shops in other English-speaking countries (like the UK) for example would seem to greatly increase the hits both for us as individual reviewers and for Epinions itself. This sort of expansion might also help alleviate the problems described by selden in that there might be a UK-base for Epinions to send out payments from, an Australian-base, &c. On a related topic, even 'foreign' goods readily available in the US are rather poorly represented on Epinions. To take a concrete example, let me use a favourite of mine:- Bollywood films [Hindi cinema, based in Bombay (thus Bollywood)]. India produces a massive number of films every year, either exceeding or at least rivalling that of Hollywood. Furthermore, there is a large base of consumers in the USA for these films due to the large number of Indians (and those of Indian-descent) resident in the USA. And I can easily and quickly find 10 different online shops, again in the USA itself, which sell Hindi films on DVD & VHS (many of which have English subtitles). But alas! I have no option of being able to review such titles as "Dil to Pagal Hai" ('The Heart is Crazy'), or "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" ('Something is happening'), or "Bombay", or even the classic "Mother India". It would at least be nice to be able to review 'foreign' items easily purchased in the USA, even if Epinions can't, won't or is just slow to allow reviews of non-US goods & services. My Bollywood complaint is just to serve as an example of this(I can't even find many of the books I should like to review on Epinions). I hope these varied rambling on Epinions & the outside world have been at least somewhat comprehensible and am most curious to hear from others on this topic. [Update-19.11.01: see the 2nd instalment of this opinion @ http://www.epinions.com/content_2358288516]  |
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