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You Are Not Amazon

Guest post by: John Cooney

Article Overview: Amazon.com moves a lot of product. It processes 24 orders every second. Its 76 million (and counting) unique visitors would make it the world's 17th-largest country, if it were a country. And just about every person I have ever interviewed for a usability study has mentioned using it. This success doesn't mean that it's always smart to copy from Amazon. It's still necessary to think critically about your content, audience, and goals before implementing any feature from another website, even proven leaders.

You Are Not Amazon

Amazon.com moves a lot of product. It processes 24 orders every second. Its 76 million (and counting) unique visitors would make it the world's 17th-largest country, if it were a country. And just about every person I have ever interviewed for a usability study has mentioned using it. This success doesn't mean that it's always smart to copy from Amazon. It's still necessary to think critically about your content, audience, and goals before implementing any feature from another website, even proven leaders. Because your business model and visitors are not the same as Amazon's, your site should be different too. Websites tend to be unique, which means their features and solutions should be tailored to fit their specific context.

Amazon Has a Really Weird Business Model

Recently I was looking into buying a new record player (not everything in a developer's life has to be digital), so of course I went to Amazon.com. While I was on a product page, I noticed something really strange.

Amazon places ads from other companies on their product pages - for the same product! This is crazy, as they are literally encouraging you to buy from a competitor. Except it's not crazy. Their business model ensures they make more on the ads they sell than they lose in business through these links. Additionally, most users would rather pay a little more to shop with Amazon, because they are so familiar with the brand (and because they know that Amazon provides excellent customer service after the purchase).

Amazon can get away with putting external ads on their own product pages because of their unique business model. Since you are not Amazon, you might want to think twice about employing the same strategy.

Amazon Gets a Lot of Traffic

Mention the idea of online reviews, and everyone thinks of Amazon. In fact, I know people who will go to Amazon to look at reviews for a product they're going to buy offline at a store. We can definitely copy Amazon's reviews, right?

Amazon gets millions of visitors every day. It's a good idea to keep this in mind, because only about one in 1,300 purchasers (not visitors) writes a review - that's a robust 0.07% of people who bought the product. It gets worse. Amazon actually uses the ingenious "Was this review helpful to you?" question to prioritize its reviews and keep the best at the top, and only about one in 7,300 purchasers (a healthy 0.0014%) answers it. This prioritizing is what makes Amazon's review system so great - they don't actually get more informative reviews than other sites, they just get more reviews, and you never see the weaker ones.

Amazon has millions of visitors and therefore a surplus of user-generated content. Since you are not Amazon, you should probably plan for fewer reviews, and even fewer review ratings.

It's Not Just Amazon

Of course, the caveat about copying from other sites applies to everyone, not just Amazon. Consider Banana Republic, a leading global clothing brand with a robust e-commerce site. Because Gap Inc. owns Banana Republic, the site is actually combined with four other brands-all displayed as tabs across the top of the page.

This solution puts multiple labels together on a single site, while also keeping them distinct. But there is a major potential problem.

If I'm looking for sweaters on the Banana Republic site, I see that there are other brands available, but I only see the sweaters offered by Banana Republic, not those sold by Gap or Old Navy. Suppose I don't like any of the Banana Republic sweaters (a good bet, for me)-do I know that I'm only looking at a third of the available options? It's possible that the perfect sweater is hidden on the Gap tab, but I'm going to leave without ever seeing it.

The site designers are clearly aware of this issue, because subtle links to the other brands' sweaters appear in the right margin. These links don't show me what these other options look like, or even how many there are-and there's an excellent chance that I'll miss them entirely. But I suspect that won't bother the designers at all.

If I'm on Banana Republic, I'm probably interested in a Banana Republic sweater, not a Gap sweater, and certainly not an Old Navy sweater. Without getting into psychology, these brands are household names and users are likely to enter the site with specific and persuasive feelings attached to each. As a shopper, I don't mind the gentle reminder that others are available, but I'll be annoyed if these irrelevant sweaters are mixed in with the ones I want.

Gap Inc. knows that users are informed and opinionated about its labels, so it pushes those brands first, before the actual products. (Users choose the brand they want, then the product; Gap Inc. also offers no help in choosing between the different labels.) Since your brand is probably less of a household name, you'll want to ensure that your products come first.

Be Inspired, But Still Be Smart

There is a lot to admire on sites like Amazon, and looking at industry leaders is a great way to get inspiration for your own site. But differences in business models, audience, and content mean that a lot of what you see won't work on your site. You are not Amazon-which is great, because you have a chance to be better. After all, Amazon didn't make a profit until its seventh year in business, and that's one model most people would rather avoid.

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Article Tags: advertising, ecommerce, site layout, usability
Referred by: http://www.orbitmedia.com



Related Forum Posts
Reviews - There are definite flaws in the review system and Amazon is a big one. I like to read the reviews on Amazon, but when a review is overly good or overly bad, I click on the reviewer's name and look at their other reviews. That gives me an idea of whether they bash or praise everything or if there is merit to it. There are too many people paying for reviews and then picking the best to post. I prefer a review from a consumer who will give an honest review. I have no interest in getting the "top Amazon" reviewers to review my books. Actually, I don't push for Amazon reviews like I probably should, but I've seen far too much abuse on the reviews. Shri
Re: I'm Published On Kindle! - Thanks everybody! @Yinka: Go to Amazon.com, scroll down to the bottom and click "Self-publish with Us" then follow the instructions. I remember you wrote an ebook a while ago. That would be just fine. You will need a US dollar account to cash the cheques from Amazon.com and a UK pound stirling account if you opt to publish on Amazon.co.uk as well.
Some online business suggstions debunked - 2. Sell photos on stock photography sites --- I tried this, couldn't even get in the front door. But then, I'm apparently a lousy photographer... However, if you do get in, I think you only get something like 25 cents a download... 8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services ---I've been an Amazon associate for a loooong time, selling books, and business has been lousy since the beginning. Nobody reads anymore...I do get a few DVD sales every now and again... but frankly I make much more money though Google Ads on my site. It took several months for that to build up, but now as my website has more readers those ads are starting to pay off, whereas there's been no corresponding jump from Amazon ads on the same pages...
Re: Some online business suggstions debunked - [quote="OmnivoreInk":3vzbbcg5]8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services ---I've been an Amazon associate for a loooong time, selling books, and business has been lousy since the beginning. Nobody reads anymore...I do get a few DVD sales every now and again... but frankly I make much more money though Google Ads on my site.[/quote:3vzbbcg5] I agree that being an Amazon associate doesn't seem to generate revenue for anyone. However, I always thought books and DVDs were the best selling items on the web since they're relatively inexpensive and consumers know exactly what they're getting (unlike clothing and electronics that need to be "tested"). I think a lot of people still read books, but they just prefer to buy in-store or from Chapters.indigo.ca or Amazon.com/ca rather than from an associate. In fact, a lot of people I know still feel uncomfortable making purchases on the web.
The woes of writers and publishers - [quote:36p0mzru]I was looking at the reviews for Amazon's Kindle product a couple of weeks ago and couldn't believe the number of people who didn't like the product because it prevented them from giving away free copies of the book or reselling it to someone else. [/quote:36p0mzru] I think authors have a hard time with this. Go to Amazon and see all the books offered for sale new - and then just below that see the links offering the same book for sale used! And anyone in their right mind will probably save some money and buy the used book - which means that the author and publisher of that book are not getting any income from it. I really don't think Amazon should be allowed to do that... that's what used bookstores are for. Amazon really seems to be biting the hand that feeds them in that regard.


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