Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#21

Post by beojan » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:07 PM UTC

village-idiot wrote: post #4

iamgopal wrote: post #2

I think amazon is winning solely based on their physical infrastructure which they keep investing in, and hence the share growth. It has nothing to do with how good their website or customer support is, or how many ads they show or not show. All are this ideas they just trying without anything to loose.

Their website is garbage for how popular it is. It’s really hard to navigate the sections for controlling your kindle, digital purchases, or settings.

And why does the UI language depend on which country's version you're visiting? It makes sense for the descriptions, but the UI is the same in all versions.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#22

Post by thieving_magpie » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:08 PM UTC

justinph wrote: post #7

This is one of the reasons I've let my Prime subscription lapse and started doing more shopping at Target. In addition to fewer (or no) ads, I can often pick an item up in an hour instead of waiting two days, and the prices are better.

Amazon (and prime as well) is a godsend for those of us that don't live within a 90 minute drive of a Target or Wal Mart.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#23

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:09 PM UTC

slededit wrote: post #14

phobosdeimos wrote: post #8

So do physical stores. Is it really so different from Heineken paying for prominent shelf space in the supermarket?

When you ask for help finding Corona the staff doesn’t ask if you’d like Heineken instead. No it’s not the same.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#24

Post by hef19898 » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:10 PM UTC

arbuge wrote: post #19

Their basic underlying assumption appears to be that they're no longer in danger of losing customers and can now act accordingly. Now that they've captured 50%+ of US ecommerce, they've also raised many prices, to the point where they're far from the cheapest price in many cases. A random example... the cat litter I just purchased is $17.89 at Amazon, $13.49 at Walmart. Last week I bought a chair mat for $21.95 on Eb…

Same impression here. Could turn out to be a worrying trend for Amazon in the Long run. And with the growing fix costs coming with an ever increasing logistics food print and brick and mortar stores, Amazon might end up in tight spot, still an e-commerce leader but not dominating any more.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#25

Post by paradite » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:10 PM UTC

> Nearly 8 percent of views on Amazon product pages came from sponsored links in May, more than double what it was a year earlier, according to data from analytics firm Jumpshot, which collects URL data from a panel of 100 million people.

It is fitting that an article talking about increased number of ads is using statistics from a company that collects data for ads targeting.

Guess why the ads are working so well?

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#26

Post by mtgx » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:11 PM UTC

arbuge wrote: post #19

Their basic underlying assumption appears to be that they're no longer in danger of losing customers and can now act accordingly. Now that they've captured 50%+ of US ecommerce, they've also raised many prices, to the point where they're far from the cheapest price in many cases. A random example... the cat litter I just purchased is $17.89 at Amazon, $13.49 at Walmart. Last week I bought a chair mat for $21.95 on Eb…

Amazon hasn't had the cheapest prices for a few good years now. They're taking advantage of the fact that they have what I like to call "brand inertia".

The problem is brand inertia is not infinite. If you no longer do the things that have given you that inertia to begin with, eventually you'll run out of it. When a worthy competitor appears, your customers, who by then will have little loyalty to you, will switch.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#27

Post by karkisuni » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:12 PM UTC

hardwaresofton wrote: post #16

This seems like a huge chance for some company more thoroughly obsessed with item quality to wade through the muck and offer some value in terms of product reviews, since reviews are being gamed. Seems like lots of free time to buy and try products in various niches, an easy to use browser extension and an extensive set of affiliate links, and a coupled website (probably not youtube since negatively reviewed companie…

you're describing Wirecutter and its many clones

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#28

Post by billysielu » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:12 PM UTC

justinph wrote: post #7

This is one of the reasons I've let my Prime subscription lapse and started doing more shopping at Target. In addition to fewer (or no) ads, I can often pick an item up in an hour instead of waiting two days, and the prices are better.

In the UK, getting to a town center to do some shopping is so horrific that Amazon is the only remaining option.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#29

Post by jasonkostempski » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:14 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #18

Loughla wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>now they're just an eBay clone selling cheap knockoffs trying to hide the fact. I've moved almost all of my online purchases BACK to ebay actually because of this. At least ebay's trust system is easy to understand and harder to game than what amazon has in terms of reviews. I'm interested to see if this is a trend, or if my circle of friends is an outlier.

Same here. I either go to eBay or B&H. In eBay I can see at least quickly the seller rating. Amazon has just turned into a big mess.

What's B&H?

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#30

Post by laurent123456 » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 1:15 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #15

maaaats wrote: post #10

Unless you know exctly brand/make/model you wan't to buy on Amazon, the search is useless. Hundreds of similar results from dozens of vendors of varying quality. I liked it better when they sold things themselves, now they're just an eBay clone selling cheap knockoffs trying to hide the fact.

>now they're just an eBay clone selling cheap knockoffs trying to hide the fact. I've moved almost all of my online purchases BACK to ebay actually because of this. At least ebay's trust system is easy to understand and harder to game than what amazon has in terms of reviews. I'm interested to see if this is a trend, or if my circle of friends is an outlier.

I've switched to other independent online shops as I can usually find what I want. I just search for "buy 'something' uk" on duckduckgo and can always find a few good non-Amazon sellers.

I avoid Amazon as much as possible now since it's no longer possible to rely on their reviews and there are way too many results to be able to find one that's not fake or of extremely poor quality.

I'm starting to appreciate going to brick-and-mortar shops again and having the choice between only a dozen of good quality products, instead of thousands cheap barely usable ones.