Amazon: A Search Engine With A Warehouse
from the rethinking-commerce dept
Clay Shirky made an offhand comment on Twitter recently that's way too good to leave to just the Twitterverse and not expand upon (hopefully Shirky himself will expand upon it -- but in the meantime, you're stuck with me). In commenting on a chart showing how Amazon seems to be growing while the rest of retail is shrinking, Shirky notes "AMZN's growth happens because its not a retailer with a web presence, its a search engine with a warehouse."This needs to be unpacked in a few ways, but it's such a unique insight that it deserves lots of attention. Many people look at Amazon and think that it's just an "online store," but the reason that Amazon works is not because it took the concept of a store and put it online, but because it has always done things that only the internet allows it to do. That is, from its very early days, Amazon was never just about about being a store in a web browser, but in using the web to do interesting and unique things built on top of a commerce core. Things like online user reviews and recommendations may now seem commonplace, but Amazon revolutionized them. And it added so much convenience that many people now use Amazon product pages as default info pages on a product -- I know I do. To me, Amazon isn't just a store, but it's a database of products and reviews -- and that's what Shirky's getting at in saying it's a "search engine with a warehouse." Of course, the cool thing is that when you start thinking about Amazon in those terms is you realize how much more it can do. Those who think they're retailers are going to keep missing where Amazon is heading unless they start thinking the same way.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: clay shirky, online retail, retail, search
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
warehouse
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amazon's API
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A search engine that remembers
Users also curate the reviews. I remember this really good article a while back on the value of its 'was this review helpful for you?' feature: http://www.uie.com/articles/magicbehindamazon
All of these things makes it even more than a search engine because it's no longer purely transactional like Google.
Online news could be served the way Amazon serves/recommends/curates product information.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
third party sellers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A powerhouse
I don't recall exactly how long it took Amazon to actually make a profit and I'm not sure is has yet recouped all its costs since it's start up days but I admire their success. As a frequent user of their services, I feel confident that my product will be delivered when promised and that my overall cost will likely be the lowest or very close to than anywhere else, on the web or not. Impressive!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Search Engines in Retail
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cluetrain
When descriptions, and box labels don't describe all of a products benefits, and none of its weaknesses, the Amazon reviews offer a smattering of both. This helps me greatly in choosing between competing products.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
seriously?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amazon is the ultimate "impulse-buy" store...
It started when they were offering DRM-free mp3s, and now I have to keep myself from going on Amazon for media, especially with the "new and used from $__.___ feature. Every time I hear a single song or see a clip of a movie, I find myself hovering over the "___ new and used!!!" button.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
a search engine withe a warehouse
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]