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Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

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Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#471

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

shogun21 wrote: post #416
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't what the parent said: > Detect when the customer is tired or stressed and show higher prices. Detect price conscious customers and show them lower prices. Has nothing to do with supply and demand.

It has to do with demand.

If it is that granular it can't have any impact on demand.

While one person might be moody and more like to demand said product, another could be more rational and need more incentives to buy said product - hence nothing actually changes, and the mean is what will be used.

The impact on demand at that given time will need to be compared to the value. Trust me, it won't be equivalent.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#472

Post by ryanwaggoner »

bootsz wrote: post #289

In some sense it feels like Amazon is progressing along a similar trajectory as Facebook: 1. Start company with a minimally viable product 2. Hire smart people to iteratively optimize the usefulness of the product to attract as many users as possible. Incentive structure rewards maximizing new users 3. Product reaches "peak usefulness"; seemingly everyone uses it / loves it 4. Re-focus business efforts to maximize re…

Why would #6 be true?

Why can’t they just watch for real-time negative changes in their prime churn rate and average conversion rates, basket size, etc?

People have a wide spectrum of buying habits, price sensitivity, and tolerance levels for negative customer experience, so even if they are going down the toilet, it’s not like all of their userbase will one day decide at the same time to switch to Walmart.

They’ll see these trends in the data years before it becomes an existential threat. Couple that with huge amounts of feedback being collected, A/B tests being run, and third party data and I don’t see how they’ll have a growing problem that they’re unaware of because it lags sales ad revenue numbers.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#473

Post by ryanwaggoner »

llao wrote: post #404
jeremy7600 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First page, 1st non-sponsored result: Apple MMEF2AM/A AirPods Wireless Bluetooth Headset for iPhones with iOS 10 or Later White by Apple can't get any more legit than that. "Apple airpods": 1st non-sponsored result: Apple MMEF2AM/A AirPods Wireless Bluetooth Headset for iPhones with iOS 10 or Later White by Apple wait wut?

Huh, I can confirm GP. Nothing by Apple, no Airpods. https://i.imgur.com/LymtHOnr.jpg (sorry about the quality, I thought Imgur was lossless...)

It’s probably because you’re in Portugal. I’m in the US and also see Apple AirPods as 1st result.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#474

Post by ryanwaggoner »

cle wrote: post #64
sk5t wrote: post #6

It's not hard to imagine that Amazon has created a situation where groups within the company are incented to drive up this high-margin ad income (no annoying logistics! no inventory!), divorced from the "external" fallout of ever-so-slowly turning the site into garbage. eBay, have you anything to say about this? Or how about you, Hewlett Packard?

Ad revenue is easy to measure. Long term erosion of the trust of your users isn’t. Metric-driven decision making is not a silver bullet.

I really doubt that it’s difficult to measure proxies for user trust. Return rates, conversion rates, search funnels, customer feedback ratings, basket size, prime churn rate, etc.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#475

Post by pavanlimo »

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…

I used to land on Amazon as a defacto shopping place, until about a year ago. Now Aliexpress is the defacto for me.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#476

Post by azernik »

bootsz wrote: post #289

In some sense it feels like Amazon is progressing along a similar trajectory as Facebook: 1. Start company with a minimally viable product 2. Hire smart people to iteratively optimize the usefulness of the product to attract as many users as possible. Incentive structure rewards maximizing new users 3. Product reaches "peak usefulness"; seemingly everyone uses it / loves it 4. Re-focus business efforts to maximize re…

You're assuming Facebook has actually hit stages 5-7; user numbers indicate that it's plateaued in North America, with slight declines in Europe... after reaching market penetration of around 50% of *total population.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#477

Post by bogomipz »

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…

>"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."

This has been my observation as well, at least for a basket of household sundries and office supplies I was previously sourcing from Amazon. They were often more than a few dollars cheaper at a local store. I realized I had fallen into the too complacent to price shop trap for a while. I agree with your other points and for me deliveries issue started to become a regular occurrence. I think the bloom is off the rose with Amazon.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#478

Post by conjecTech »

nkrisc wrote: post #178

I chuckled a bit when I realized the only thing I buy from Amazon anymore these days is... books! Everything else I no longer trust Amazon for. Hell, even the books might be counterfeit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

Same here, which is why I cancelled my prime membership. You can get almost any book you want slightly cheaper on abebooks.com (also owned by amazon).

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#479

Post by cabalamat »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #220
Gustomaximus wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it though? 1) The day Amazon feel threatened they can become the cheapest in the market quickly again. 2) Given purchasing power scale and people like fast delivery there will only be a handful of companies that can complete with Amazon ever, so it seems unlikely there will be a 'started in the garage' business compete with them now the market is maturing. 3) With the extra profit Amazon are making vs a competit…

It wasn't just that Amazon was the cheapest in the market. It was that they built up a reputation over the years of being cheap and reliable. There was a long period where I would buy things from Amazon without considering other sources. That's gone now and they can't quickly get it back. Forget about price. I can't even trust that I'll be getting a legitimate product anymore. When possible, I prefer to buy from a mo…

> That's gone now and they can't quickly get it back.

It takes a lot longer for a company to build up a good reputation than to lose it. But if a company evaluates its managers on metrics and if good reputation can't easily be measured, it's very easy for them to lose it.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#480

Post by bootsz »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #472
bootsz wrote: post #289

In some sense it feels like Amazon is progressing along a similar trajectory as Facebook: 1. Start company with a minimally viable product 2. Hire smart people to iteratively optimize the usefulness of the product to attract as many users as possible. Incentive structure rewards maximizing new users 3. Product reaches "peak usefulness"; seemingly everyone uses it / loves it 4. Re-focus business efforts to maximize re…

Why would #6 be true? Why can’t they just watch for real-time negative changes in their prime churn rate and average conversion rates, basket size, etc? People have a wide spectrum of buying habits, price sensitivity, and tolerance levels for negative customer experience, so even if they are going down the toilet, it’s not like all of their userbase will one day decide at the same time to switch to Walmart. They’ll s…

It might not be, I'm just going off of intuition. I think it might "lag" in the sense that the annoyances / inconveniences that get gradually introduced don't result in a linear reduction of users. I think you can get a sort of "frog in boiling water" type situation, where you're gradually getting less utility out of the product or subconsciously more annoyed with it but you don't really realize it and take action until some threshold is hit, at which point a large portion of users suddenly jump ship within a very short time window. Pure speculation though.
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