I’ve always been a foodie, but food seems to impinge even more upon my consciousness now that I’m a mother. I suspect it’s the same for many of you.
The new food-review site Zeer intrigued me, therefore, when I read about it at TechCrunch. Zeer is “a grocery product community that helps you ‘believe in what you buy.’” You can view nutritional information for over 114,000 food products there, and rate and review each one, according to TechCrunch. So far, there seem like a lot of gaps in what’s been rated, but that’s to be expected of a new site.
TechCrunch says Zeer is targeting women between the ages of 20 and 32. This seems young, given that moms must be a potential audience, and lots of us are now waiting until we’re older to have kids. Maybe they’d better rethink that range.
I disagree a bit with TechCrunch’s claim that “Zeer only has information on packaged foods, not on less processed foods like meat, fish, fruits or vegetables.” My quick perusal of the site indicates that they do have a Salads and Produce section, and some meats in Deli. The emphasis is on packaged products, though. There is also an Organic section as well as areas for Diet & Performance Foods and Ethnic & Religious Foods.
Hmm. “Performance Foods” makes me think of those dancing California Raisins, and “Religious Foods” brings to mind a line of Peeps all bowing before an altar. Clearly I need more sleep.
It’s an interesting concept, though TechCrunch notes some obvious gaps, like a mobile version so people can read about a product while in the supermarket. The real question, however, is whether enough folks will take the time to rate foods so that Zeer can become a reasonably reliable guide.
Would you use it?
6:04 am
Shannon B
on May 7th, 2008
@ 4:23 pm:
Hi Dana!
I just wanted to drop in and thank you for writing about Zeer! It’s really important for us to appeal to mothers like yourself since you really do care about your children, what their eating, and since you’re probably on the run a lot– Zeer is a great way to research products and find out what you want to buy, before you shop.
I do agree with you that you may be right — many moms are waiting to get older to have children, so perhaps our target should have be listed more specifically as women between the ages 20-45.
The reason we selected that target group wasn’t to exclude other women who were older — it’s mostly was in recognition that most older women, being from a generation long before Social sites, tend to be more private in their lives and take heed before plunging into a Social site.
However, we have many women and men joining the site who are 45 and up who have a lot to say about the products they’re buying and are using the social features happily. So be assured, we want our features to appeal to that market as well, since these individuals generally spend more time thinking about nutrition and are passionate about finding the best products to maintain their health.
I’m pleased that you noticed that Techcrunch missed our Deli/Vegetable section a bit. I agree that it would be nice to grow our produce section to include information on local organics and locally produced products — so perhaps that is an area we can improve. :D
As for if people will review enough products. We hope so! Our member base is growing rapidly and the reviews are stacking up. I hope if you haven’t already you’ll jump in and get the conversation going, too. I think your insight as a mother would be very helpful in our Parents community!
I enjoyed your post very much, I’ve added you to my reader so we can keep in touch!
Shannon B.
Community Manager
Zeer.com