43 ms·

So, on the one hand, just about any common product that can be bought online, can be bought on Amazon. So, good for them. However, given the horrendous search

So, on the one hand, just about any common product that can be bought online, can be bought on Amazon. So, good for them. However, given the horrendous search UX with Amazon, you'd think there would be more competition in this space. I'm always leery of buying big ticket items through them, for fear of counterfeits, or restocked items, and such. Not that Google is any better. I occasionally do product search with Google, but it ends up showing me all kinds of crap only vaguely related to my search terms, apparently in an effort to be "helpful". For anything computer related, I'm still using Newegg or Microcenter, just because I can filter results much more easily. Though even there, there is much that could be improved. Just like with price, I'd like to be able to set a specific range for weight, when searching for a laptop, for example.

hammock 6y ago
It's not an easy problem for retailers and just about every issue you raised stems from the fact that these retailers (Amazon and you might as well include Best Buy, Instacart, Overstock, etc) are relying on data provided by the suppliers. That data is often not accurate and is definitely not standardized. It's a million times easier for, say, Patagonia or another single-brand retailer to accurately and robustly catalog their own merchandise. The multi-brand retailers that do it well invest huge amounts in their buying and merchandising teams, which allows them to do independent ratings of, e.g. the clothing fit, etc. I'm thinking of Nordstrom. When you are an Amazon or a Walmart, not only is the number of SKUs you are dealing with magnitudes larger, but often you are a few degrees separated from what those SKUs even are, when you open up your platform to third-party sellers.