I've honestly never understood how amazon could become the go to site for ordering packages in the US.
It's website is a mess, filled with dark patterns and confusions for the users. The design itself made me literally contemplate whether this is a scam the first time I tried to use it. Complete turn off.
It's no wonder other delivery sites have beat them in different countries (e.g. Digitec in Switzerland, TakeALot in South Africa, etc.).
Cause Amazon was great.
The website was simple to use when everything else was a mess. The support was perfect, you could get a refund in five minutes no questions asked, the delivery was reliable.
> I've honestly never understood how amazon could become the go to site for ordering packages in the US.
Because for a loooong time in the Western world there were no competitors at all in the "online shopping" experience. There were mail delivery giants (e.g. German Quelle), some of them decades-long established - but they all completely and utterly missed online, and so did many brick-and-mortar retailers. They all thought people would trust a physical store more, e.g. against fraud, but online was/is so much cheaper that it doesn't matter in practice if you end up with fake products every once in a while.
By the time they woke up, Amazon had already entrenched itself firmly as a one-stop-shop that offered fast (!) shipping and easy returns.
They were good once: simple website, authentic brandname products, good prices.
Then they started allowing third party sellers. Then they abandoned the phase to just grow and break-even. Then they trotted out Prime and dark patterns.
And now Amazon and its website are lucrative for Amazon but crap for customers.
It's website is a mess, filled with dark patterns and confusions for the users. The design itself made me literally contemplate whether this is a scam the first time I tried to use it. Complete turn off.
It's no wonder other delivery sites have beat them in different countries (e.g. Digitec in Switzerland, TakeALot in South Africa, etc.).