Multichannel retailer Kiddicare plans to launch social networking facilities within the next six months as part of a radical plan to let consumers decide how they navigate its site.

The facility will build on the near 14,000 product reviews that have been posted on the web site since the feedback service was added three months ago.

Kiddicare partner Scott Weavers-Wright said that, in addition to a forum, the social networking tools will allow customers to browse reviews using the same navigation technology from Endeca that the site uses to allow customers to browse products.

Also in development is a function to let customers filter products by the attributes of other customers who have reviewed them. For instance, a customer could filter the list of prams that Kiddicare sells to ones reviewed by parents of newborns or parents of twins.

The site already allows reviewers to add pictures to the comments they leave and once the social networking functionality is launched, they will also be able to upload video.