Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com

There is a lot to say about Amazon.com. It was (along with EBay) one of the most explosive websites to ever emerge from the dot-com bubble, soar to dizzying stock market heights, fall, then resurge as a reliable investment. Sociologically it has created a behemoth of a business and owns its own line of generic products and innovative products that impact the 21st century. It's quite possible that the shipping industry would not have been as a) profitable or b) as reliable had it not been for Amazon to revolutionize how the world shops.

That's not to say that Amazon as a company is without its critics--some of them levying serious humanitarian and ethical concerns. Article after article in News circles seem to indicate that Amazon is really a hungry beast, riding its employees until they either quit, or feel the need to speak out about feeling caged. Nevertheless, the giant is here to stay, and its welcome page is a bazar unto itself of wares.

For the purchasing category

    1. Is everything I need to get to or want to consume available without scrolling?

        No. Amazon is everything like a Mall was designed to be, but not by design. Unless I know exactly what I want and search for it, Amazon doesn't automatically deliver my needs to my front page. Otherwise, the search function is all I need.

    2. Is it visually appealing?

        No. There is very little architectural language or quality control when it comes to product hosting. Some vendors are genuinely concerned with maintaining product pages with high quality images and accurate, helpful descriptions. However this is the vast minority compared to the sum of all offerings on Amazon.

    3. Am I left with the experience of wanting to come back?

        Yes. Just like it is addicting to walk through a mall to window shop, I, like many others, find myself just browsing for fun to avoid doing work or just to get some idea of what I could possibly want next.

       

Is it a good website?

On the ternary scale (0 being unreadable, 1 being unmemorable, and 2 being memorable), I give Amazon.com a big fat 2. It is unfortunate that Amazon is as memorable as it is--considering that it doesn't do anything over the top to impress. It is a bare bones (stylized), warehouse of miscellaneous goods for sale with some organization for browsing and a fantastic indexing system that works when the goods are popular. The memorability of Amazon is not the website, but rather the customer experience and dependability of 2-day free shipping with a subscription. This could be an indication that a website must suit its experience, rather than reinvent the wheel.