4 ms·

Show HN: Agora – A Chrome Extension To Enhance Your Online Shopping

22 points by finkin1 12y ago

allendoerfer 12y ago
I am wondering if the market is big enough for a service like this. With Google killing price comparison sites and increasing market barriers for smaller online shops, it seems like the big players are owning their niche and are the only way for their customers to get the items they sell. On the other hand: These are arguments, why it would be a good idea to focus on tooling and CTV instead of reach through SEO. Interesting to see how it works out, best wishes!
- finkin1 12y ago
  I believe the market for this type of tool is massive. Google/Amazon, etc. want people to shop using their own site and it's hard to change people's loyalties when it comes to online shopping. By offering an extension that enhances the experience a user has while shopping on the sites they are already loyal to we believe we can reach more people.
razvanr 12y ago
Looks promising, congrats. Do you only support Amazon at this point? You might want to look into Two Tap, we'd be happy to get in touch. twotap.com
- finkin1 12y ago
  Thanks! You can check out our list of supported sites here: http://agora.sh/supportedSites.html http://agora.sh/supportedSites.html. We plan to add a lot more in the next month. twotap looks awesome! How have I never heard of it? Please shoot me an email so we can chat. Contact info is in my profile.
anigbrowl 12y ago
Good concept, some nice UI ideas, bad presentation. Animation is too herky-jerky and gets in the way of understanding. Not enough supplementary text for the animations. Does it only work on Amazon? It looks that way but I can't tell. It's OK if that's all it does right now and you expect to expand later, but you should address this up front. Also, looking at the example belt, you are firmly pitching this at guys (men's clothes, stereotypically male interest items like construction tools). I have heard that women are also quite interested in shopping. I do like the basic concept, a lot. I'm all in favor of things that let the user optimize/customize things instead of being stuck with the website publishers frequently-awful UI. I found this immediately more visually attractive and intuitive than amazon's own offering. Also, I hate to say it, but you should consider filing a patent on 'the belt', or else expect to see that idea copied left and right.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  (After installing) OK, you aim to work with a whole lot of sites. You should sell that, even though it's a 'work in progress'. No privacy statement/policy. This deterred me somewhat from crating an account, especially since the extension already required pretty generous permissions. Again, you could use an extra stage on the landing page to tell me how up front that stuff works - IMHO it's worth the extra time in these days of mass retail data breaches. If I know you're going to ask to account link via G+, FB, or Twitter then it doesn't come as a surprise. Surprises are bad where PID is concerned. Good manual. You should have had that accessible from the landing page, don't hide the menu under the logo. I do love the UI.
  - finkin1 12y ago
    We're working on a privacy statement. They can get pretty complicated and we're just about to get some more funding, which we'll use hire a lawyer to complete it. We plan to let users sign up via email instead of social networks, we just decided not to do that for our beta launch. We're a small team of 4 people, so we have to be very picky about what we spend out time on. I'm glad you liked our manual! Honestly, we didn't think anyone would take the time to read it. If you hover over the A logo on the top left you can access the manual, supported sites page, and contact page. You're probably right that we shouldn't hide them.
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    Possible Bug: After installing (but before signing up), I sent a comment from the Agora page. This came back to a blank page. Now clicking on the Agora button does nothing, right clicking on it and selecting 'Agora' takes me back to the Chrome web store. Version 35.0.1916.114 m. The belt works fine after I created an account, but I have to navigate back to Agora.sh by hand, and can't find a way to access the tutorial again. Feel free to email, you have my address in your comment inbox. I like this product and want to help you improve it.
    - finkin1 12y ago
      Looking into this. Thank you for reporting it! You can access the tutorial here: http://agora.sh/tutorial/ http://agora.sh/tutorial/
tashaw 12y ago
Looks very promising!
mcintyre1994 12y ago
This looks awesome, great job! Really nice UI, much nicer than anything these websites make themselves. I definitely agree that you should consider A/B testing a landing page + example page tailored to women. I'd definitely consider a mobile strategy really fast. [Removed this section, plan to check out your app soon] The tutorial wasn't completely clear for me. It might help if your example store shown the inspect button at all times instead of only on mouse over for example. I think the tutorial skipped step 2 for me and there's no way of going back. I'd have preferred no sound by default but that's not a big deal. Also when you do support more stores I'd definitely use that in the tutorial. The extension is broken for me, can I email somebody? Nothing happens when I visit a page (Amazon) (not sure if it should, it'd be nice if dragging opened the belt), clicking extension at the top of Chrome shows the belt. Dragging something there just causes an error. Decisions could be more useful - some combination of their inspect pages would be really neat. Speaking of which, can I view an inspect page for an item in the belt? If not that'd be really helpful. (Just spotted it, the image that pops up when you hover over an item in the belt has the inspect button (again on mouseover), I'll leave this comment as feedback on discoverability there) I'm thinking about when this would have been most useful recently, and I guess it might be helpful to let you know. I used Airbnb to rent a place for a few days, and was constantly just bookmarking listings. I'd definitely like to use something like this for that. Similarly I hired a villa from a different website (OwnersDirect, part of HomeAway) and used Springpad's visual notebooks to track a few places there. Again this is much better (and Springpad's closing..) I think the real strength is overcoming choice paralysis when I really have to make 1 choice. It'd be neat if you considered adding sites like Airbnb, I noticed they're not on your supported sites as WIP or otherwise. Expanding on that above use case, the perfect scenario would be that your service gives me a really useful decision overview that is shareable (with eg other holidayers), including the info your inspect has + my comment when I added it.
- themichaelcook 12y ago
  Most immediately, sorry to hear about the brokenness of the extension. Send us an email at contact@agora.sh and we'll try to get it up and running. Reloading the extension and refreshing the page may do the trick.
- 12y ago
finkin1 12y ago
We have a 1-minute launch video, too. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjeTnfD70jM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjeTnfD70jM
crazychrome 12y ago
Great product! i think the biggest question is how serious Google takes Chrome extensions. As google increasingly downplays the role of chrome extension but shifts focus onto apps (and possibly native app), I don't think it could sustain as a reliable distribution channel for business.
- themichaelcook 12y ago
  Hmm. They recently made a philosophical shift towards single function extensions, but I haven't encountered any indication that they are moving away from or downplaying extensions as a whole. If you wouldn't mind sharing info on this, that would be super great. Mobile apps, and even a packaged app are in Agora's future. This stage of a browser extension targeting technical users is primarily serving the function of building a savvy userbase that we intend to empower and co-create value with for the benefit of a larger audience. We're attempting to lay a foundation.
  - crazychrome 12y ago
    Sorry for the late reply. I made couple of chrome extensions and apps last year to test the effectiveness of Chrome Web Store as a distribution channel. Now two left: PayableForm (app), and News Tracker(extension). Both were build during weekend, and both were little marketed. The result is disappointing (for extensions). The installation ratio of chrome extension is never more than 0.2%, while chrome app is constantly above 0.5%. Google did downplay extensions. Around Nov last year, Google put Apps above the extensions in the search result list. Google also default to expand categories under "Apps", resulting extensions down to the 2nd to last of the list in the left side bar, just above themes. On the packaged app front, maybe you can use good-old-drag-n-drop.
LazerBear 12y ago
Looks great. Does the name come from Hebrew? It means small coins, like pennies.
- themichaelcook 12y ago
  An agora was a public space in ancient greek cities where commerce and forum took place.

22 points by finkin1 12y ago

I am wondering if the market is big enough for a service like this. With Google killing price comparison sites and increasing market barriers for smaller online shops, it seems like the big players are owning their niche and are the only way for their customers to get the items they sell. On the other hand: These are arguments, why it would be a good idea to focus on tooling and CTV instead of reach through SEO. Interesting to see how it works out, best wishes!

finkin1 12y ago
I believe the market for this type of tool is massive. Google/Amazon, etc. want people to shop using their own site and it's hard to change people's loyalties when it comes to online shopping. By offering an extension that enhances the experience a user has while shopping on the sites they are already loyal to we believe we can reach more people.

razvanr 12y ago

Looks promising, congrats. Do you only support Amazon at this point? You might want to look into Two Tap, we'd be happy to get in touch. twotap.com

finkin1 12y ago
Thanks! You can check out our list of supported sites here: http://agora.sh/supportedSites.html http://agora.sh/supportedSites.html. We plan to add a lot more in the next month. twotap looks awesome! How have I never heard of it? Please shoot me an email so we can chat. Contact info is in my profile.

anigbrowl 12y ago

Good concept, some nice UI ideas, bad presentation. Animation is too herky-jerky and gets in the way of understanding. Not enough supplementary text for the animations. Does it only work on Amazon? It looks that way but I can't tell. It's OK if that's all it does right now and you expect to expand later, but you should address this up front. Also, looking at the example belt, you are firmly pitching this at guys (men's clothes, stereotypically male interest items like construction tools). I have heard that women are also quite interested in shopping. I do like the basic concept, a lot. I'm all in favor of things that let the user optimize/customize things instead of being stuck with the website publishers frequently-awful UI. I found this immediately more visually attractive and intuitive than amazon's own offering. Also, I hate to say it, but you should consider filing a patent on 'the belt', or else expect to see that idea copied left and right.

anigbrowl 12y ago
(After installing) OK, you aim to work with a whole lot of sites. You should sell that, even though it's a 'work in progress'. No privacy statement/policy. This deterred me somewhat from crating an account, especially since the extension already required pretty generous permissions. Again, you could use an extra stage on the landing page to tell me how up front that stuff works - IMHO it's worth the extra time in these days of mass retail data breaches. If I know you're going to ask to account link via G+, FB, or Twitter then it doesn't come as a surprise. Surprises are bad where PID is concerned. Good manual. You should have had that accessible from the landing page, don't hide the menu under the logo. I do love the UI.
- finkin1 12y ago
  We're working on a privacy statement. They can get pretty complicated and we're just about to get some more funding, which we'll use hire a lawyer to complete it. We plan to let users sign up via email instead of social networks, we just decided not to do that for our beta launch. We're a small team of 4 people, so we have to be very picky about what we spend out time on. I'm glad you liked our manual! Honestly, we didn't think anyone would take the time to read it. If you hover over the A logo on the top left you can access the manual, supported sites page, and contact page. You're probably right that we shouldn't hide them.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  Possible Bug: After installing (but before signing up), I sent a comment from the Agora page. This came back to a blank page. Now clicking on the Agora button does nothing, right clicking on it and selecting 'Agora' takes me back to the Chrome web store. Version 35.0.1916.114 m. The belt works fine after I created an account, but I have to navigate back to Agora.sh by hand, and can't find a way to access the tutorial again. Feel free to email, you have my address in your comment inbox. I like this product and want to help you improve it.
  - finkin1 12y ago
    Looking into this. Thank you for reporting it! You can access the tutorial here: http://agora.sh/tutorial/ http://agora.sh/tutorial/

tashaw 12y ago

Looks very promising!

mcintyre1994 12y ago

This looks awesome, great job! Really nice UI, much nicer than anything these websites make themselves. I definitely agree that you should consider A/B testing a landing page + example page tailored to women. I'd definitely consider a mobile strategy really fast. [Removed this section, plan to check out your app soon] The tutorial wasn't completely clear for me. It might help if your example store shown the inspect button at all times instead of only on mouse over for example. I think the tutorial skipped step 2 for me and there's no way of going back. I'd have preferred no sound by default but that's not a big deal. Also when you do support more stores I'd definitely use that in the tutorial. The extension is broken for me, can I email somebody? Nothing happens when I visit a page (Amazon) (not sure if it should, it'd be nice if dragging opened the belt), clicking extension at the top of Chrome shows the belt. Dragging something there just causes an error. Decisions could be more useful - some combination of their inspect pages would be really neat. Speaking of which, can I view an inspect page for an item in the belt? If not that'd be really helpful. (Just spotted it, the image that pops up when you hover over an item in the belt has the inspect button (again on mouseover), I'll leave this comment as feedback on discoverability there) I'm thinking about when this would have been most useful recently, and I guess it might be helpful to let you know. I used Airbnb to rent a place for a few days, and was constantly just bookmarking listings. I'd definitely like to use something like this for that. Similarly I hired a villa from a different website (OwnersDirect, part of HomeAway) and used Springpad's visual notebooks to track a few places there. Again this is much better (and Springpad's closing..) I think the real strength is overcoming choice paralysis when I really have to make 1 choice. It'd be neat if you considered adding sites like Airbnb, I noticed they're not on your supported sites as WIP or otherwise. Expanding on that above use case, the perfect scenario would be that your service gives me a really useful decision overview that is shareable (with eg other holidayers), including the info your inspect has + my comment when I added it.

themichaelcook 12y ago
Most immediately, sorry to hear about the brokenness of the extension. Send us an email at contact@agora.sh and we'll try to get it up and running. Reloading the extension and refreshing the page may do the trick.
12y ago

finkin1 12y ago

We have a 1-minute launch video, too. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjeTnfD70jM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjeTnfD70jM

crazychrome 12y ago

Great product! i think the biggest question is how serious Google takes Chrome extensions. As google increasingly downplays the role of chrome extension but shifts focus onto apps (and possibly native app), I don't think it could sustain as a reliable distribution channel for business.

themichaelcook 12y ago
Hmm. They recently made a philosophical shift towards single function extensions, but I haven't encountered any indication that they are moving away from or downplaying extensions as a whole. If you wouldn't mind sharing info on this, that would be super great. Mobile apps, and even a packaged app are in Agora's future. This stage of a browser extension targeting technical users is primarily serving the function of building a savvy userbase that we intend to empower and co-create value with for the benefit of a larger audience. We're attempting to lay a foundation.
- crazychrome 12y ago
  Sorry for the late reply. I made couple of chrome extensions and apps last year to test the effectiveness of Chrome Web Store as a distribution channel. Now two left: PayableForm (app), and News Tracker(extension). Both were build during weekend, and both were little marketed. The result is disappointing (for extensions). The installation ratio of chrome extension is never more than 0.2%, while chrome app is constantly above 0.5%. Google did downplay extensions. Around Nov last year, Google put Apps above the extensions in the search result list. Google also default to expand categories under "Apps", resulting extensions down to the 2nd to last of the list in the left side bar, just above themes. On the packaged app front, maybe you can use good-old-drag-n-drop.

LazerBear 12y ago

Looks great. Does the name come from Hebrew? It means small coins, like pennies.

themichaelcook 12y ago
An agora was a public space in ancient greek cities where commerce and forum took place.