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November 12, 2002
Boo Amazon
What is Amazon thinking?!? Here's part of a screen I grabbed tonight: This is perhaps not misleading in the sense that the pick your favorite color ad that Yahoo's been running lately, but still. Maybe it's swell that Amazon is selling clothes, but using their relatively well-trusted "customers who bought this bought that" functionality to get the word out is, IMO, more than a little sleazy. But maybe this is supposed to be funny ha-ha funny? I notice that when Challis Hodge visited the link for this same book, he found Amazon suggesting Clean Underwear from Amazon's Eddie Bauer Store. By the time I'd clicked on the link (a day later), the same shoppers for this book were now looking for "Clean Underwear" from the Gap. And the appearance of the suggested apparel is obviously fleeting, as I found when I tried to visit whose shoppers had convenient clothing tastes for Amazon's marketing practices. All gone now! Finally, I'm not sure when it happened, but Amazon is now pushing (even in the legit categories) that "customers who shopped for this also shopped for this" rather than the old "customers who bought this also bought this." I suppose that the former gives shoppers more options, but it's not quite as much of an endorsement that someone scanned a page compared to plunking down their cash. Anyone know if this is something that Doc Searls and friends talks about in the Cluetrain Manifesto? It seems like it should be!
Comments
Ok, I'm commenting on my own post, but I had another thought. Why is it that Amazon feels compelled to ship hard stuff like books, CDs, and DVDs/VHS tapes in monster boxes? I'm not a great tree hugger (just bought an SUV), but after they shrink wrap the stuff to a piece of cardboard, don't you think they could just put it in a nice Tyvek envelope and ship it that way? I just hate throwing all that cardboard away. -- Posted by Beth on November 15, 2002 08:14 PM
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IDblog is Beth Mazur tilting at power law windmills. A little bit Internet, a little bit technology, a little bit society, and a lot about designing useful information products. Send your cards and letters to .
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