tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post1466783496080870470..comments2024-03-24T10:38:16.997-07:00Comments on Geeking with Greg: Improving Amazon?Greg Lindenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216403000599463072noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-897049140319956582007-09-14T04:31:00.000-07:002007-09-14T04:31:00.000-07:00I wrote up all the ideas I could come up with on h...I wrote up all the ideas I could come up with on <A HREF="http://gregdetre.blogspot.com/2007/04/collaborative-filtering-and-how-its.html" REL="nofollow">how Amazon and others might utilize collaborative filtering in the future</A> - I can see huge potential for them in that direction.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03614008835096850308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-5585878863870665622007-09-12T14:43:00.000-07:002007-09-12T14:43:00.000-07:00Until shopping sites like Amazon get clear on the ...Until shopping sites like Amazon get clear on the fact that they are depressing sales by throwing their entire store inventory at the user on their home page, they won't reach their potential.<BR/><BR/>Scores of direct marketing studies show that multiple-choice offers pull less orders than single-shot offers. <BR/><BR/>They should have an entire zero-base review of their landing page concept.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-6137657870733159212007-09-12T13:57:00.000-07:002007-09-12T13:57:00.000-07:00The third party sellers do seem like a real proble...The third party sellers do seem like a real problem, I agree. The shipping charges are hidden and often high, the delivery times often long.<BR/><BR/>It is hard to see how Amazon can make the shopping experience pleasant while heavily promoting third party sellers. Too much is out of their control.<BR/><BR/>In general, Amazon seems torn between being Nordstorm's, Wal-mart, or eBay. Does Amazon represent a great shopping experience, big inventory at low prices, or a flea market?<BR/><BR/>They seem to be trying to do all three at the moment, but excelling at none.<BR/><BR/>Backing up for a second, perhaps I have a mistaken assumption here, that Amazon even wants to be a retailer.<BR/><BR/>For many years, Amazon seems to have been trying to position itself as a software platform for other retailers and web sites and deemphasizing their own retail operations.<BR/><BR/>They have not yet done so successfully -- their revenue and earnings are dominated by retail -- but perhaps Amazon views its future opportunities as somewhere other than improving the online shopping experience.Greg Lindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09216403000599463072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-78369457708563436642007-09-12T03:31:00.000-07:002007-09-12T03:31:00.000-07:00Their search leaves a lot to be desired: I often p...Their search leaves a lot to be desired: I often prefer searching directly with Google inside the Amazon site. If you search for something they don't have, you get a lot of useless results.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-30553716747028321272007-09-11T14:31:00.000-07:002007-09-11T14:31:00.000-07:00Amazon has got to get control of all the wretched ...Amazon has got to get control of all the wretched third-party sellers! Remove third-party pages that have insufficient information. Only allow third-party sellers who use Amazon logistics (which will solve the problems of inaccurate online inventory, slow shipping, and failure to offer UPS/FedEx/DHL). If you ONLY buy items "sold by and shipped from Amazon.com" you have no trouble; but all the third-party merchants are terrible, and their pages don't have bold health warnings on them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-23187773298113419542007-09-11T14:23:00.000-07:002007-09-11T14:23:00.000-07:00One thing I really don't like is Amazon showing me...One thing I really don't like is Amazon showing me stuff I can't get. I am a non-US customer but they keep telling me about free shipping deals that are US only and ads for electronics, Credit cards and other stuff that they won't actually sell to me where I live.<BR/><BR/>Considering I'm paying around $5 per book for shipping flashing the "free shipping" ads at the top is a bit of a slap in the face sometimes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569681.post-66000882518793892662007-09-11T11:26:00.000-07:002007-09-11T11:26:00.000-07:00In recent Amazon shopping I have been shocked by h...In recent Amazon shopping I have been shocked by how many items are sitting in the wrong categories (sometimes multiple listings for identical items also occurs). I think Amazon Marketplace is mostly to blame…is as if swap meet booths have been set up between the racks on the sales floor of a department store.<BR/><BR/>I think that Amazon is working on a strategy to replace itself (leaving Amazon.com to become the swap meet). They recently launched Endless.com with a great interface for shopping for shoes (and handbags, but I've only shopped for shoes). On Endless I can select my shoe size to only see styles that are available to me (a real plus for a man with shoe size > 13). The shoes are neatly categorized (and cross listed as appropriate) to make it simple to find the kind of shoes one is looking for. On the product page several views of the shoe are available for each color and a zoomed in view instantly pops up when mousing over the image so the details can be inspected. Endless.com provided a premier online shopping experience (and still had great prices).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15026602026490038278noreply@blogger.com