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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

#101

Post by overkill28 »

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…

Later on in the article they explain that the initial approach was to include the profitability of an item directly in its metadata so that the algorithm could use that in its ranking criteria.

They changed their approach to instead measure how much profit Amazon makes on a given search. This allows them to analyze whether various changes to the search algorithm increase or decrease profit, and optimize for those that do.

It's a subtle distinction but it means that instead of explicitly promoting their products in search, they are instead making changes based on other product attributes that naturally boost the ranking of their products (and thus increase their profits).

It's kind of like a blind study: they're telling the engineers, "we won't tell you which products are ours, but we'll see if you can figure it out based on these 100 other traits."

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

#102

Post by justinmchase »

monitron wrote: post #6

I would compare this to a supermarket allocating shelf space to maximize its profits, either by placing its own brands front and center or by featuring brands that have made a deal for prime shelf placement. I don't see this as scandalous or even new. Coincidentally, Amazon brand products are usually pretty good in my experience, so this might not be a terrible outcome for users who have already decided to come shop…

It should be scandalous in those cases too. Having a company be both the distributor and producer and have a monopoly is problematic. This is sort of the problem of cable TV also, where companies like comcast tries to be a producer and distriutor and have a monopoly. In the past we have had unions fight against this sort of thing but unions have been busted to hell in this country over the last few decades to the point where even smart people don't even understand why its bad for a company like amazon to do this, we don't remember why.

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

#103

Post by blueadept111 »

I'm glad they do this! I publish books on Amazon.com using Amazon KDP, and it's impossible to compete on a level playing field in brick-and-mortar bookstores. Distributors won't touch self-published titles. And I can't offer them at a cheaper price, due to the nature of print on demand (much pricier to print compared to doing a print run in China).

The ONLY advantage I have is that my titles are more promoted by Amazon in the search results (since they make a killing off the higher margins, even when they decide to discount it themselves). If Amazon wasn't boosting KDP self-published titles in the search results, it wouldn't work... period, in my opinion. I wouldn't even try.

And if anyone from Amazon is reading this, you guys should allow the authors to purchase the title in bulk at a much cheaper rate, so that reselling to local bookstores is a viable option.

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

#104

Post by momokoko »

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…

At this point, anecdotally, it feels as though the top comment on almost every article I see on HN about Amazon is some variation of this complaint.

Has anyone done any analysis on the HN posting dataset to see if that happens to be the case?

And if that is the case, does anyone have any insight into why that might be?

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

#105

Post by sct202 »

Certhas wrote: post #88
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…

Still, they are the monopoly marketplace online. They should be doing _everything_ to avoid looking like they are abusing their monopoly position to muscle into other fields. The fact that they don't seem too bothered just seems to indicate to me that regulators are not prepared to act on them. Really the rule should simply be that if you operate a market place you can't sell on it. Full stop. Then we could simply be…

I think a lot of people are missing the point that Amazon controls so much market share now that actions that aren't anti-competitive if you have 1% market share are when you control 50%+.

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

#107

Post by otakucode »

According to the book 'The Everything Store,' Amazon's search engine is a matter of internal contention. Years ago, when people noticed that Amazon's search engine was terrible (as it is), someone from another group in the company developed a new search system based on Elasticsearch and more modern technologies. He presented the new search to Bezos. But there was an existing team whose primary responsibility was the search functionality. And the man who led that team was one of Bezos' personal friends. That man was, apparently, petty and status-seeking, so pushed back against adopting the new search engine. Bezos proposed that there would be a contest between the old and new search engines. Judged by his friend, head of the current bad search engine team who didn't want the new search because it threatened his status. Predictably, the new search 'lost.'

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

#108

Post by jshowa3 »

benologist wrote: post #80
ikeboy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most US goods come manufactured from China. While China has a large counterfeit market, it's mostly restricted to inside the country.

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

#109

Post by edoceo »

berdon wrote: post #26
simplecomplex wrote: post #2

Of course. Good for them. It’s their fucking store! > Amazon has adjusted its product-search system to more prominently feature listings that are more profitable for the company Unthinkable. A store trying to make a profit selling things. How crazy.

Is this only being down voted because of tone? I am curious if there actually are any laws relevant to this situation. As far as I can tell, this is exactly like Walmart or BigBoxCo pushing their own brands. It's not illegal and, generally, it's not even a bad thing for the consumer (in the short term). It really feels like most of the people taking issue with this are doing so because of their personal sentiments ra…

I think it's downvotes because Amazon is not a store, it's a marketplace. And it's well different than BigBox because there is way less capital outlay for both property and goods.

Downvotes for bad information, not snark

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

#110

Post by jedberg »

dmarlow wrote: post #75
helpPeople wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When I spilled water on my keyboard, I actually walked into a Fry's and got a better deal than anything online, for a genuine Microsoft keyboard.
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