Definitely have not solved the problem yet! The search algorithm prioritizes the brand called "Red Wing Shoe" so still figuring out ways to show real 'red shoes'. Have been thinking about passing the images through a detection tool and tag them to enhance the search experience.
Re: Value Proposition. Absolutely, I think focusing on the SMB-angle and 'local shopping' will help direct users better. I'll definitely take this into account.
You could try the method we used for our vector search demo for e-commerce (all open source, natch) - use CLIP to get vector embeddings for product pictures and then use these for boosting or matching. https://opensourceconnections.com/blog/2023/03/22/building-v... Our demo works pretty well for searches like 'blue network cable' when the colour isn't always explicitly mentioned in the product data.
Re: Value Proposition. Absolutely, I think focusing on the SMB-angle and 'local shopping' will help direct users better. I'll definitely take this into account.