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Impossible Patterns | Building Marketplace Search is challenging | Is there a way out of a lose-lose proposition?
Every technologist should read FTC’s lawsuit alleging Amazon of unfair practices towards its customers and sellers.
The term “search” was referred to 60 times in the 170-ish page complaint list! and 8 out of those references explicitly refer to organic search.
Search (or discovery) is key to a successful marketplace transaction. Enough supply (of widgets) and demand (customers and businesses) are table stakes. Marketplaces’ key advantage is frictionless discovery! This discovery is enabled by search results.
Building a search algorithm requires multiple foundational technologies, especially marketplace search as it is multi-faceted. Marketplaces need to make money, that is a given objective. What’s tough is balancing ‘customer objectives’ with ‘marketplace objectives’.
Let’s first talk basics and clear up some terminologies:
Marketplace search: Search capability to ‘match’ what the customer is looking for. Typically, these searches are done based on customer needs with an easy-to-use interface for search.
Examples: Uber riders looking for drivers, Customers of Airbnb looking for places to rent, Amazon customers looking to buy a…
