"Price is certainly an important factor, but also, who is this merchant? Are they reputable? And through a partnership we have with Gomez merchant ratings, that information is now on our site and you can even sort on our site by merchant ratings."
And MySimon gives you a clue about shipping costs and availability from the individual merchants right up front. If you want to shop online for a truly unique gift... Proctor and Gamble lets you create and name your own coffee blend. The site is personalblends.com. Nathan Estruth, director of P&G's corporate incubator, says answer a series of questions... such as...
"How do you like your steak? Well I like it medium or medium well. How do you like salsa? Hot to mild. How do you like chocolate? Light to dark. And we then do a regression analysis with our neural net to take that to a blend of coffee. Choose the right beans and the right roasting to deliver a blend of coffee that will actually better match their palate."
The personalized blend costs 20 to 25 dollars for two 12 ounce bags, including shipping. The site again, Personalblends.com. Bootcamp, I'm Fred Fishkin, Bloomberg Radio.