> I love how Amazon has gone from customer obsession to the lowest of the lowest common denominator.
Maybe I'm misremembering but I don't remember this halcyon time where amazon was able to distinguish themselves from competitors to the consumer via anything but listed inventory. Their website has always been a cluttered mess filled with spam....
What I remember being useful was that, when you clicked on an item, somewhere on the page would be a carousel with items that other customers who looked at that item eventually ended up buying/also looked at. It was genuinely helpful information that generally would make it faster to find what you were actually looking for.
At some point they got rid of that despite it being useful. I assume that Amazon prefers being able to control what you see when you search for an item. Now you’ll still see carousels and comparison tables when you click on an item, but it’s all stuff that vendors paid to have placed there (or that Amazon decided it wants you to see).
Yea I guess I'm not sure what people envision when they say "amazing"—having an online store might have been revolutionary in 1994, but not by 2004, and certainly not by 2012. What set them apart was just inventory.
What truly set them apart wasn't inventory. Any large physical retailer could match back them.
It was inventory plus ease of use. Which is customer obsession.
One click purchase. Next day delivery. Flat fee shipping (prime). No questions asked drop-off returns. True, useful reviews. Good algorithmic sorting. Best in class logistics.
It was really much better than anything else online.
Now reviews are shit, searching products is a nightmare of sorting through clones and knockoffs, marketplace returns are hit or miss... and that's why it's worse.
Amazon's logistical side is still solid. Pretty much the only reason why I still give them any business... but independent stores are catching up on that front.
I can't say I've ever used one click purchase or next day delivery, but I'd argue prime is a great example of enshittification, not a positive customer experience. The service is effectively subsidized by the USPS and the customer probably shouldn't pay a dime.
Prime was worth it when it started. The enshittification was Amazon gutting their own golden goose, degrading (and eventually removing) all of the benefits that it originally conveyed.
Maybe I'm misremembering but I don't remember this halcyon time where amazon was able to distinguish themselves from competitors to the consumer via anything but listed inventory. Their website has always been a cluttered mess filled with spam....