10 Mar 2004 | Mike said...

I don't know if this is out of the ordinary or not, but my college bookstore has had the book for a few days now. Did we get it early or something?

10 Mar 2004 | anon said...

What's up with the book being black and white? Was this a decision to make the price lower? I would personally pay a little more and get the book in full color...

Sometimes it's pretty silly to have screenshots and then a description on the side saying "Priceline's yellow box shown here is a great example of a good error message box" (or whatever the text is)

11 Mar 2004 | Peter said...

I'm not sure I agree with this observation.

Amazon is now prominently placing information that is of no use to the vast majority of those who see it. (How many book purchases are shipped overnight? 1%? 3%?)

Yes, it builds awareness for their overnight shipping offering and will probably somewhat increase its use. And yes, I'm sure they make a boatload of profit from overnight shipping charges.

But I don't think it's worth placing this information so prominently. I think I, and they, would be better served by using this space to better inform me about the *content* of the book, not how fast I can get it.

11 Mar 2004 | Frank said...

Amazon is now prominently placing information that is of no use to the vast majority of those who see it. (How many book purchases are shipped overnight? 1%? 3%?)

Do you know this for a fact? I have a feeling Amazon knows a little more about this than you do.

11 Mar 2004 | Frank Again said...

And yes, I'm sure they make a boatload of profit from overnight shipping charges. But I don't think it's worth placing this information so prominently.

"Boatload of profit" and "I don't think it's worth it" don't mix. Peter, since you know so much about Amazon's business, tell me how putting this information where it is actually hurts the overall experience. Tell me how it hurts their business. Amazon never used that space for book info (all the book details are down on the page, not at the top). This little block has no effect on the traditional Amazon page.

11 Mar 2004 | Slip said...

Love Amazon :)

11 Mar 2004 | One of several Steves said...

The shipping notice is especially nice around holidays. Several retailers had alerts that said some variation of "Need this item by December 24? Order by xxx, yyy or zzz, depending on the shipping option"

Every day, nice enough I guess, but not as much of a value add as around holidays.

11 Mar 2004 | Frank said...

One more thing. My guess (and it's just a guess) is that Amazon was fielding a lot of support questions such as "When can I get this item if I get next day shipping" so, as Jason noted, they popped it right on at the top of the product page. People have to rememeber that profitability isn't just about taking a cut of more expensive shipping, it's about reducing costs (which include fielding repeated support questions).

11 Mar 2004 | Sam said...

Actually, Frank, I'm going to partially agree with Peter. Amazon is starting to innundate its customers with information on every page. While I don't particularly believe that the feature in question is fluff, I do think it adds to the growing clutter on product pages.

I have a feeling Amazon knows a little more about this than you do.

To claim that Amazon is without fault (or act as if Amazon is incapable of error) is a bit ignorant, in my opinion. I'd be the first to gape in amazement at the versatility of the Amazon backend -- there's a serious bit of statistics and number crunching going on in the background. However, I think the way this information is presented is starting to turn over onto itself.

I've dealt with Amazon on a corporate level -- not all of their 'inventions' are sunshine and rainbows. Like us mere mortals, they try and fail, as well.

11 Mar 2004 | Jamie said...

Wow ... with all that clutter on the page I would have missed that message if you didn't tell me to look for it!

11 Mar 2004 | Tom said...

I think this feature could be useful but would be better on other sites as I've never needed anything from amazon the next day.

I have to agree all the additional clutter is getting annoying, they seem to add another information box every month. Compare Amazon.com to Amazon.co.uk the UK one is how amazon.com used to look and is much better to look at imho.

I assume amazon saw increase in sales with each feature they added and just didn't stop adding.

11 Mar 2004 | Tim said...

I guess this new "notification" makes a bit of sense for those people who are on the fence about a purchase, but then see that they could get it shipped to them in a day.

However, this seems at first blush to be some sort of "last-minute pitch." Sort of like when you're at Toys R Us and the cashier asks you "You need any batteries?" Or when you're at a restaurant and the waiter asks you "Can I get you a house salad to start with?" Just a simple sale pitch disguised as helpful advice.

Why doesn't this message appear consistently on products? I noticed on Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life," the message appears, but on EPMD's "Strictly Business" (just for example), it doesn't. Both items are noted to ship in 24-hours. Maybe it's just a roll-out of a new feature?

12 Mar 2004 | pb said...

Frank, he makes a good point and I think most people would agree that it's unlikely over-night shipping is a very large percentage of Amazon's business.

The thing that drives me nuts about Amazon is that it's search resluts are so lousy.

And I'm surprised that Amazon still offers a Text-only version of the site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/073571410X//t/202-4042775-1170238

12 Mar 2004 | Peter said...

In response to Frank's comments...

No, I have no first-hand knowledge of what percentage of books sold by Amazon (or any other online retailer) are shipped overnight.

But I do know -my- shipping habits, as well as the shipping habits of a dozen other people who've been in and out of my life. Outside of last-minute holiday or birthday gifts, I don't recall anyone *ever* paying for overnight shipping.

And when compared to other types of merchandise, overnight shipping is less likely to be used on books. Look at the topp 100 bestselling books on Amazon. Pretty much every one of them is available at your local Barnes & Noble.

Yes, if you do the math, it's probably cheaper to pay overnight shipping than to get in the car and go get the book (assuming you value your time) but most people don't think this way.

Yeesh, overnight shipping is $12.49. A good amount of the time that would exceed the cost of the book.

As far Frank saying:

>>

When I said "boatload of profit" I was referring to the margins on overnight shipping... not the effect of overall profit. I said "I don't think it's worth it" because I think this added clutter will, in the long run, hurt *overall* profit more than help. I imagine there are other kinds of information that are much more influential in whether someone buys the book. For example? I hate that I have to scroll down to find the star rating of the merchandise.

Of course it's just my opinion, but if Amazon users were given a choice as to what should be above the horizon, they'd choose starts over overnight shipping 9 times out of 10.

12 Mar 2004 | Peter said...

And as long as we're talking about Amazon clutter, does anyone else HATE the "search the web with Google" search box they've added to all the product pages?

I feel like half the time I do a search I accidentally click into that box (maybe because it pops more by being blue?) and end up with Google results.

If I wanted to search the web, why would I use Amazon? It's just plain confusing.

(I imagine the thinking is that some number of their users are such web neophytes that they don't really know how to get to a search engine... they just search whereever they see a search box. If they get used to seeing and using it on Amazon, Amazon is where they'll go to perform a search. Odd.)

12 Mar 2004 | One of several Steves said...

If I wanted to search the web, why would I use Amazon? It's just plain confusing.

It's not just Amazon. And I hate it, too. If I want to use Google, I'm going to Google. It's 1998 all over again, people thinking that they'll go to their pages for everything.

12 Mar 2004 | Martin said...

Maybe they could also add a feature that tells you the total value of your order (including delivery) before you get to the checkout.