We first came across themall.TV earlier this year. At the time we were extremely sceptical about it, given that it is nothing more than a online, graphic-led walk-through of a shopping centre (or mall, to our US readers), where users can then "interact" with different retailers.
It is, essentially, an affiliate site with a twist. Well, a physical one, as users walk to the front door of each shop and then click through to the host site.
Since then the idea was launched fully a few weeks ago (the site got a line in the Guardian) and travel companies appear to be having a punt.
The travel "floor" (you get to it via a lift) has a string of major travel brands including TUI, Trailfinders, Travelsphere and quite a few major airlines.
Chief executive Ishmael Bahdur called last week on a bit of a PR offensive.
He claims the site has had 36,000 visitors in the space of two weeks, with 9,000 of those in the travel section. That's an impressive sum in some respects - although he wouldn't say how people had actually clicked through to the one of the partner sites (i.e. how well this relative enthusiasm is helping out his revenue model).
One question mark is why would a consumer visit TheMall.TV when product search is available on a string of other sites? Is the user experience that good so that users would happily browse a virtual supermarket with no product information or availability?
So the final question is this: an interesting idea that travel companies should at least try out, or a far too quirky brainchild of some clever developers that needs a bit more work?
It is, essentially, an affiliate site with a twist. Well, a physical one, as users walk to the front door of each shop and then click through to the host site.Since then the idea was launched fully a few weeks ago (the site got a line in the Guardian) and travel companies appear to be having a punt.
The travel "floor" (you get to it via a lift) has a string of major travel brands including TUI, Trailfinders, Travelsphere and quite a few major airlines.
Chief executive Ishmael Bahdur called last week on a bit of a PR offensive.
He claims the site has had 36,000 visitors in the space of two weeks, with 9,000 of those in the travel section. That's an impressive sum in some respects - although he wouldn't say how people had actually clicked through to the one of the partner sites (i.e. how well this relative enthusiasm is helping out his revenue model).
One question mark is why would a consumer visit TheMall.TV when product search is available on a string of other sites? Is the user experience that good so that users would happily browse a virtual supermarket with no product information or availability?
So the final question is this: an interesting idea that travel companies should at least try out, or a far too quirky brainchild of some clever developers that needs a bit more work?
Gimmick +1
To me looks like a great "CV development"
i.e something done to enhance a CV (which it would do) but not for the commercial aspects of it
I would have started with a web based game engine if doing a development like this.... so that at least movement could be natural.
Of course, they could be releasing something exciting "next"..... but then they shouldn't be doing a big PR thing now!
Anybody remember Barclay Square
- Barclays early attempt at a shopping mall online, can't find any examples unfortunatley but as I recall it was an early web 1.0 version of this perhaps with a little more work and a bit cleaner interface this concept may work especially as digital embraces a wider audience and starts to infiltrate the home.
Michael: sorry, don't remember it at all. was it a success?