
Survey: Amazon is burying the competition in search - Oatseller
http://bloomreach.com/2015/10/survey-amazon-is-burying-the-competiton-in-search/
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mistircek
Please be aware of the fact that this survey is commissioned by Bloomreach to
reach a conclusion they'd like.

"By a 2-to-1 margin, respondents to Survata’s survey said they don’t
understand why their favorite retailers don’t offer the same kind of dead-on,
personalized experience that the big search engines do." It must be a great
coincidence that Bloomreach provide personalization services to online
retailers.

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commentzorro
I know. The article falls apart quickly when they get to the "Key takeaways"
section. Nobody (except people selling marketing services) is looking at
Amazon for "personalization."

Good search and filter and important. I take Newegg to be about the best at
this.

But the real reason everyone starts the shopping search at Amazon is because
they have a good selection of almost everything! Few stores are going to be
able to match this scope, even in a deep vertical.

Also, Amazon (and again Newegg) have somewhat useful comment and ratings
sections. You can skip all the four and five star reviews. They're mostly spam
these days. But you can pick through the one and two star reviews to find the
non-spam ("this thing sucks and broke before I got it") posts to find out
specific issues that might cause you to rule out a product. And that only
comes about with a large customer base of active shoppers. Which only comes
about once you've reached critical mass.

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Oatseller
Related infographic:

[http://bloomreach.com/2015/10/infographic-amazon-leads-in-
pr...](http://bloomreach.com/2015/10/infographic-amazon-leads-in-product-
search/)

------
blumkvist
Internet retail constitutes around 7% of total retail in the US. Of that,
Amazon has around 25% for around 1,75% of total retail.

Now, I would risk saying that if you are reading HN, you think that digital
technology is absolutely everywhere and transformed everything and is now
plateauing. This is far from the case. Digital technology is only barely
starting to mature. You may think that internet retailers have all these tools
to collect and analyze data which far surpass the brick and mortar world and
you would be wrong. Retailers will soon start to get serious about digital and
Amazon has to defend itself. Its position is far from solidified.

See the popular growth curve.[1] The early majority has just begun to develop
the necessary infrastructure. The overwhelming number of retailers are yet to
even start their (serious) attempt.

Moreover, while retailers grow their digital channels, internet pureplays like
Amazon need to make a b&m infrastructure in some form or they will never have
a significant market share. Internet will not facilitate commerce in its
entirety, but merely augment it.

[http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/99A2/curve.JPG](http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/99A2/curve.JPG)

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commentzorro
This (1.75%) is a surprisingly small number! I wonder how far the reach of the
internet is into retail? I know a few people who use Amazon and other sites to
find products but don't even have Amazon accounts. When they've found the item
the want, they look for local B&M stores for actual purchase. But they find
Amazon invaluable for price reference and general info.

