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Where I live book shops have tended to become more like gift shops. They sell something that is an expensive luxury that you buy because it is a nice thing. A
by 7952 11y ago
Where I live book shops have tended to become more like gift shops. They sell something that is an expensive luxury that you buy because it is a nice thing. Amazon have a huge advantage in this by giving the buyer an assurance that the present will be well received. You can buy a book for a 5 year old relative without knowing what a typical 5 year old actually likes.
This could easily extend to none-book purchases (probably the end goal). There are lots of products that are a little obscure that you don't find in physical shop but have high ratings.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> Amazon have a huge advantage in this by giving the buyer an assurance that the present will be well received. You can buy a book for a 5 year old relative without knowing what a typical 5 year old actually likes. Individual variation is significant enough that I don't think that Amazon's data-based understanding of (say) typical 5-year-olds does much to provide assurance that a gift is right for a particular 5-year-old. If the particular recipient actually is an active Amazon purchaser -- especially with a strong rating history -- you might get some assurance, but that's a different thing (and more applicable to online than in-store sales, probably, anyway.)