Was reading about emerging search methodologies in the most recent issue of netmagazine. And was introduced to www.picclick.com and www.zoomi.com. Both alas North America oriented so not a lot of use to the rest of us when using Ebay and Amazon. The insight is that the human eye scans images far faster than words - so giving you a screenful of book covers or product pictures is much faster than reading picture and words in a linear sequence. Top tip - this means that when you brief people - add complexity visually rather than verbally - fill the table with competitive products and get people to sort them.  They can process this much faster than a list of words or numbers. 

The irony of zoomii is not lost on me - 10 years after undermining bookshops Amazon is using intermediaries to turn their site back into a bookshop again!