It's hard to deny the appeal of Amazon.com's highly personalized approach to e-commerce.
When you pull up their homepage, they greet you by name, as if you were an old friend. They remember what you've bought recently, and are ready with suggestions for similar items. What's this? A new vegetarian Italian low-fat seasonal cookbook? Don't mind if I do. There's even a tab for a whole page dedicated to your likes and dislikes. Oh, really - you shouldn't have!
And it doesn't stop there. Amazon automatically shows you "Listmania" and "So You'd Like to..." lists and guides that are related to the item you're looking at. Click on The Non Designer's Design Book and you're presented with lists of design books and guides to learning design that were created by other customers. Some of those customers may be professional designers. Every item can be rated and reviewed by customers, and you can link to your favorite customers so that you can read all their reviews, lists and guides. It's like a big happy family of people buying stuff.
You might think that you couldn't possibly get into too much trouble at Amazon's site - i mean, how much can you buy in one sitting without budgetary alarm bells going off? But Amazon has some convenient ways around your prudish binge-shopping aversion. Your personal Shopping List is a place to store all those items you can't buy today, but don't want to forget about either. So Six Feet Under Season Five will be right there waiting for you whenever you decide to stop by again.
And when that list hits 50, 100, or some other completely unmanageable number of items? Two words, baby: Wish List. Now you can tell the whole world exactly what you want for Christmas - Grandma's day-of-the-week underpants be damned!
Checkout is a breeze. Ah yes, they know where you live and how you'd like to pay. Put it on my Amazon VISA, naturally. And look at that. Amazon tells you exactly how much money you've saved. Who pays retail anymore, anyway?
Impatient much? Those with control issues can track their packages from their account page. Or distract yourself by browsing the latest personalized e-newsletter Amazon sent you. It's filled with things they just know you'll love. Actually, who couldn't use another [indie rock album/gripping new memoir/subscription to a magazine I don't have time to read]? I'll take it!
Fact is, if you shop there, Amazon probably knows you better than your mother, your lover, or your parish priest. Which would be chilling if it didn't come with free shipping.
When you pull up their homepage, they greet you by name, as if you were an old friend. They remember what you've bought recently, and are ready with suggestions for similar items. What's this? A new vegetarian Italian low-fat seasonal cookbook? Don't mind if I do. There's even a tab for a whole page dedicated to your likes and dislikes. Oh, really - you shouldn't have!
And it doesn't stop there. Amazon automatically shows you "Listmania" and "So You'd Like to..." lists and guides that are related to the item you're looking at. Click on The Non Designer's Design Book and you're presented with lists of design books and guides to learning design that were created by other customers. Some of those customers may be professional designers. Every item can be rated and reviewed by customers, and you can link to your favorite customers so that you can read all their reviews, lists and guides. It's like a big happy family of people buying stuff.
You might think that you couldn't possibly get into too much trouble at Amazon's site - i mean, how much can you buy in one sitting without budgetary alarm bells going off? But Amazon has some convenient ways around your prudish binge-shopping aversion. Your personal Shopping List is a place to store all those items you can't buy today, but don't want to forget about either. So Six Feet Under Season Five will be right there waiting for you whenever you decide to stop by again.
And when that list hits 50, 100, or some other completely unmanageable number of items? Two words, baby: Wish List. Now you can tell the whole world exactly what you want for Christmas - Grandma's day-of-the-week underpants be damned!
Checkout is a breeze. Ah yes, they know where you live and how you'd like to pay. Put it on my Amazon VISA, naturally. And look at that. Amazon tells you exactly how much money you've saved. Who pays retail anymore, anyway?
Impatient much? Those with control issues can track their packages from their account page. Or distract yourself by browsing the latest personalized e-newsletter Amazon sent you. It's filled with things they just know you'll love. Actually, who couldn't use another [indie rock album/gripping new memoir/subscription to a magazine I don't have time to read]? I'll take it!Fact is, if you shop there, Amazon probably knows you better than your mother, your lover, or your parish priest. Which would be chilling if it didn't come with free shipping.
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