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A recent study from Autobytel – an online consumer guide for the automotive industry – suggested nearly 70% of American Internet users suffer from a phenomenon called "Search Engine Fatigue." The condition (not yet recognized by the American Psychological Association) is an outcome of cluttered results, overwhelming advertisements, and inept keywords. Even locating treatment options leads to frustration for some and often forces users to physically leave the computer!

In a race against big pharma, St. Paul, MN based 3luxe developed an online solution - a consumer guide which lists the three best products in any given category. Relying on a team of consumer experts, 3luxe continuously redefines what signifies the "best" through extensive product testing, scouring of reviews, and a user-generated "luxe it or leave it" feature.

Current consumer categories on the advertising supported site include Automotive, Aviation, Boating, Computing, Sports, Travel, and a host of other popular items. Big ticket items like Boating and Aviation are a response to "rocketing" – the theory posited in best-seller Trading Up. Rocketing is connected to the overwhelming majority of American consumers who are willing to splurge for luxury on an increasing number of products. Not all items on 3luxe, however, carry a big price. I was drawn to the beer section which displayed one of my favorite, affordable Belgium Whites.

3luxe is currently ramping both product categories and user experience features for the upcoming holiday season. Individuals devoid of "Search Engine Fatigue" may continue to opt for the diversity of extensive consumer portals like Amazon, but 3luxe should connect with those bewildered by the paradox of choice.

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User comment: By: Angelos

Ruben - I spoke with the company founder and he was adamant about not pigeonholing their demographic. Yes, the US market may be more inclined to purchase the big ticket items on 3luxe, but the site can also offer insight to the average consumer interested in MP3 players or as in my case, beer. Also, I agree with both you and Adam about the importance of specificity on human powered search. I have been disappointed with results from both Mahalo and similar startups like ChaCha. Andy Angelos

User comment: By: Adam Ostrow

This is what I thought too. Mahalo is going to have a tough time keeping their content fresh as they continue to attempt to index the "top 90% of queries" as I think they claim. Human-powered results focused on a specific niche like 3luxe make some sense.

User comment: By: Ruben Schade

This site seems to be doing what Mahalo should have done: creating human edited results that are higher in quality than bot generated phonebooks of results, but doing so in a reasonable and more importantly *doable* way. Mahalo to me looks like it's going to collapse under its own weight eventually but this site keeps things simple and very well defined. As a person living outside the US I doubt I'm part of their target demographic, but its good to see there are some people out there thinking about search in new ways.

User comment: By: Suffering from Search Engine Fatigue? 3Luxe Attempts to Offer a Remedy »TechAddress

[...] Source:Mashable! A recent study from Autobytel – an online consumer guide for the automotive industry – suggested nearly 70% of American Internet users suffer from a phenomenon called "Search Engine Fatigue." The condition (not yet recognized by the American Psychological Association) is an outcome of cluttered results, overwhelming advertisements, and inept keywords. Even […] Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

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