Sunday, July 17, 2005
I started buying from Amazon right after they opened, and at last count I've spent about $2000 with them over their ten years of existence. My buying pattern has certainly changed during that time, but they have remained my favorite and most frequented online store.
In the exuberant dot-com days, it was almost impossible not to buy from them or just about any online store -- everything was so cheap, and promotional certificates were abundant. Bargain hunting was like a sport, and the trophy was finding the best deal possible after tax, shipping and discounts. I timed my DVD purchases just before release date in order to find the lowest last-minute pre-order value before regular prices kicked in. I bought dog food in 40-lb bags online but delivered to my door for practically nothing. Even my two big dogs had trouble keeping up with the orders that were coming fast and furious. I also got in on a few mispricing deals when stores incorrectly marked down their prices, triggering a feeding frenzy among the comparison shopping and bargain hunting web sites. For example The Far Side set was discounted for a while to 40% of list instead of 60%, but stores honored the lower price anyway. It was never really the $5 or $10 savings, but in some strange way the thrill of bagging a pricing coup.
My five-minute moment of fame came when I was widely quoted on the Internet for a comment I made regarding a new business practice by Amazon. At that time they were experimenting with a strategy they called "dynamic pricing" by which different customers were shown different prices for the same item, depending apparently on the users' purchasing history. I posted a comment on a bulletin board site questioning the business wisdom of that approach, and that comment somehow got picked up by the New York Times and Washington Post, and from there it spread to a large number of business and technology news outlets. For about a week, my 2 cents opinion seemed to have appreciated a thousand times.
Those days, for better or worse, are long gone. Most of the online dot-com stores like Pets.com and Webvan have vanished, leaving behind betrayed investors and old T-shirts with shiny logos.
Amazon has somehow managed to survive through the turbulence. They may no longer have the best prices for everything, but it is hard to argue with their merchandise selection and reliability. I still go there for hard-to-find books and DVDs, the stuff you don't find at Circuit City and Costco. I rarely buy anything without at least looking at the spec sheets and reviews on their site. There is also the occasional Gold Box treasure hunt when they recommend something so interesting that it is hard to pass up. They continue to bring a dose of respectability and class to every transaction I've had with them. To me, Amazon is among the few companies that pioneered a new business model and stuck around to see it establish and grow.
I think they've made it. Happy birthday, Amazon!
- posted by Woofwoof @ 6:32 AM
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I used to like Amazon, but up here where there is no Circuit City, we buy a lot more from them. Free shipping! To Fairbanks!!!
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