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Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

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Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#71

Post by ryanmcbride »

johnqpub wrote: post #61
ryanmcbride wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EDIT: I didn't explain this well at all because I couldn't find the episode and haven't listened since it came out, I highly suggest someone better than me find the episode because it makes much more sense and has WAY more information than me. There was a planet money episode about this exact comparison the other day. Basically it comes down to: When a grocery store puts something on it's shelves, the store itself bo…

>When a grocery store puts something on it's shelves, the store itself bought it from the manufacturer. They have already made their money. On Amazon, manufacturers don't make money when the item is listed, they make it only if and when a customer buys the product. That's not how it works for a some perishable products in grocery stores. For example, bread is stocked daily by the bakeries themselves. Same thing with…

>If a grocery store has their in house bakery up front right when you walk in selling bread, and the vendors bread is all the way in the back, is that unfair to the vendor?

That would be for the vendor to decide when planning out where to sell their product I guess

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#72

Post by m_ke »

namdnay wrote: post #58
m_ke wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supermarkets purchase the inventory from suppliers so they have an incentive to move everything that's in their stores. It costs amazon nothing to host 3rd party inventory so they get to prioritize whatever maximizes their profits, including screwing over their top sellers. A better analogy would be a walmart in a small town hosting a bunch of small business to showcase their products, then kicking out the top seller…

Well yes and no. Most grocery chains have more than enough weight to make sure they can return whatever they can’t sell. And the pay their suppliers so late that 99% of the time they’ve already made the sale before even paying for the inventory

The product is still taking up their limited shelf space so it's in their best interest to see it get moved. Amazon made their business on the long tail of products that rarely get bought but in aggregate add up to a large portion of total sales because they don't have the same physical constraints.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#73

Post by deanCommie »

CriticalCathed wrote: post #4

>Amazon’s lawyers rejected an initial proposal for how to add profit directly into the algorithm, saying it represented a change that could create trouble with antitrust regulators, one of the people familiar with the project said. I wonder in what was they tweaked it so that the lawyers approved this change? I wonder if regulators will care if it skirts the letter of that law when the intention was to attempt to sne…

Did you finish reading the article before commenting? They explain pretty clearly.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#74

Post by jjohansson »

If you’re a manufacturer without a strong brand, it’s incredibly risky selling through Amazon. They will take your sales data to evaluate ROI of building it themselves , and then undercut you.

Similar if you’re a retailer.

This is why Shopify’s new model is better for D2C and retail (but very difficult for them to pull off).

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#75

Post by dmarlow »

helpPeople wrote: post #48
Pxtl wrote: post #34

Considering how shopping at Amazon now feels like shopping at an electronics bazaar in Singapore with giant bins of random knock-off products of suspicious quality, tweaking the algo to push name-brand options (even if it's their own name-brand) would be a welcome move to me as a buyer. Obviously it's grossly unfair to their vendors, but from a strictly user-centric view it's an improvement. Otherwise, Amazon feels l…

I've seen Amazon prices go up while Walmart Online has been cheaper for household items. On speciality electronics, I don't think anyone would be surprised to know Amazon is more expensive. It's an ancedote sure, but back in 2012, we shopped only at Amazon. Now they are no longer King.

I too have noticed this. I recently bought a new keyboard and mouse and got them both at best buy for cheaper.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#76

Post by tracer4201 »

learc83 wrote: post #57
tracer4201 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a mall you pay a fixed cost in terms of rent, regardless of sales. Amazon doesn’t charge you to simply list your product, right? If vendors were being charged a fee just for the listing itself without any sales, your argument would be more valid. If amazon does charge a fee for simply listing a product, tell us. They don’t as far as I know.

No analogy is perfect. Amazon obviously isn't a mall, but it's not a grocery store either. A grocery store owns the goods in their possession even if they have agreements for sellers to buy some unsold product back. Amazon does not own the 3rd party goods in their possession.

You’re dismissing the mall call by saying no analogy is perfect since it doesn’t work for your argument but then you’re comparing against grocery stores, which is a pretty gross simplification.

Amazon isn’t a grocery store. The majority of their catalog isn’t even available at most grocery stores, maybe excluding WalMart.

My family owned several convenience stores growing up. Some products were bought and it was your problem to move them off shelves. Some were displayed on shelves and you only paid for what was actually sold. This was common with one of the distributors who gave us Frito Lay products. Other products had strict terms - for instance, Pepsi and Coke distributors wouldn’t give you competitive pricing unless you agreed to purchase Y in X quantity, place their mini coolers next to the refrigerator, place signage within x feet, clearly visible from the front entrance, etc. suddenly, you’re the only store in town who sells 16 oz soda for $1.59 just to break even while everyone else is selling the same soda for $1.09 or just 99 cents.

It’s a different model than Amazon and you’re taking liberties to simplify it

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#78

Post by VBprogrammer »

ikeboy wrote: post #70
jastanton wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one difference is that the Amazon Basics products seem to have a quality bar higher than the other random re-labeled products.

They recalled a quarter million power banks because they were catching fire. Everybody uses the same factories and Amazon doesn't have better quality control than anyone else.

To be fair, Samsung had to scrap a whole phone model because of battery problems. The Boeing 787 suffered with problems of batteries catching fire (and according to some reports still does). It's a tricky problem to avoid.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#79

Post by MisterTea »

Pxtl wrote: post #34

Considering how shopping at Amazon now feels like shopping at an electronics bazaar in Singapore with giant bins of random knock-off products of suspicious quality, tweaking the algo to push name-brand options (even if it's their own name-brand) would be a welcome move to me as a buyer. Obviously it's grossly unfair to their vendors, but from a strictly user-centric view it's an improvement. Otherwise, Amazon feels l…

Amazon's reputation is pretty damaged in my eyes. I have rarely used them for electronics anymore as you can't trust anything. Even at work we used prime to buy certain items and I stopped it.

Example: Last week two symbol barcode scanners used in the erp system died. I look up the same model on newegg and see that sold and shipped by newegg it was about $120. Amazon had multiple listing in the $60 range and checking reviews I see things like "died in two weeks", FAKE, "died and returned to symbol only for them to say it was a fake and they were refused service or replacement". How do you build trust with shenanigans like that? No thanks, Newegg got my money.

Amazon seems to be playing oblivious to all this mainly because people are STILL using them. So as long as they are making money they can afford to lose a few "picky" customers here and there. The rest are happy to buy trash because they save a buck. Capitalism at its finest.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#80

Post by benologist »

ikeboy wrote: post #70
jastanton wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one difference is that the Amazon Basics products seem to have a quality bar higher than the other random re-labeled products.

They recalled a quarter million power banks because they were catching fire. Everybody uses the same factories and Amazon doesn't have better quality control than anyone else.

Amazon take egregious shortcuts on oversight for counterfeit goods, which they are compelled by law to not sell, so expecting them to suddenly practice due diligence on stuff coming out of a factory in China is just laughable.
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