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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

#131

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

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…

Haha.

Here in Australia AliExpress feels like Amazon with faster shipping and more honesty.

Although Amazon now has an Australian entity, though I’m not sure how popular it is, maybe as (non-) popular as Amazon...

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

#132

Post by Animats »

It's too bad that Sears never really got into online. They were once the top catalog retailer, and known for consistent quality, good warranties, and boring products. Somehow they missed the Internet, retiring from catalog operations just as Internet shopping got going.

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

#133

Post by toasterlovin »

cptskippy wrote: post #93
MisterTea wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sadly Newegg is following in Amazon's footsteps with it's affiliate program. You have to choose Newegg as the seller or you run into the same issues. As soon as Newegg starts mingling stock like Amazon does, then we'll have to go back to big box retailers to ensure we're getting the item we're paying for.

Small nitpick, but what you are referring to is not an affiliate program. An affiliate program is where a website gets a cut of the sales for providing links to a retailer's site. So, The Wirecutter makes money by using affiliate links to Amazon and other retailers on their product review articles.

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

#134

Post by alistairSH »

jschwartzi wrote: post #111
VBprogrammer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

With a power-supply it's not a hard problem to avoid. You have to hire independent engineers to evaluate the product design and establish testing procedures to verify that the product isn't unsafe. And you have to do QA and design verification during receiving on all batches of product to confirm that the manufacturer followed the design. I've never had a power supply catch fire and I've done some really dumb stuff i…

How is a power bank different than a battery? Isn't the power bank just several batteries crammed in a casing, with a power-out port?

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

#135

Post by chiefalchemist »

I'm certainly no Amazon fan (read: they are my last choice when I run out of options), but this title/headline should be:

Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Maximized Its Profits

In other words, no news here really.

Shareholders come first. The customers (who are presumedly happier getting better prices) come next. Finally, last comes Amazon's vendors.

In other words, no news here really.

Perhaps the follow up could be:

WSJ Use Clickbait Headlines to Boost Its Own Agenda And Ad Revenues

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

#136

Post by ajmurmann »

kenforthewin wrote: post #15
goatinaboat wrote: post #7

Umm, good? I want genuine products with an assured supply chain, not any random counterfeit that gets commingled.

So the solution to counterfeits on Amazon is to only buy Amazon brands? I'd prefer they address their counterfeit problem directly.

I loved Amazon before it became a marketplace. I wish we could go back to that.

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

#137

Post by toasterlovin »

ryanmcbride wrote: post #71
johnqpub wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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

Right, just like all of the sellers on Amazon know that they have to take potential competition from Amazon into account when deciding how to participate in Amazon's marketplace.

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

#138

Post by scarface74 »

tracer4201 wrote: post #42
learc83 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's obviously not a perfect metaphor, but neither is a grocery store. >Amazon gives you distribution, traffic, logistics, etc, with zero risk. Not everyone uses the distribution, and a mall or flea market also provides traffic to tenants.

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.

Some leases do require you to pay a percentage of sells...

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/clb-percentage-rent....

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

#139

Post by the_duke »

chenster wrote: post #128
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.

With Amazon, you sit your butts at home and get what you want without getting stuck in traffic and waiting in line to check out in-store just to get a $20 keyboard. Nevertheless, it remains questionable how this change would be a fair competition for Amazon sellers, not just the Alibaba private label sellers but also all the sellers with popular products.

You missed the "Online" part of "Walmart Online".

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

#140

Post by pixelpoet »

ANTITRUST!

If Microsoft can get hammered for packaging Internet Explorer with Windows (and probably rightly so, given the market conditions at the time), there is a direct analogy to be made here.

Pick what you want to be: if you want to be the greatest goods index and shipment company in the world, fantastic. But you have to accept that you cannot sneak some of your own other-products to the top using that power. In this case, spin off your Kindle etc companies or have them broken up.

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