The Amazon Phenomenon: Can't Get It

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   Kdban101posted 14 years ago

   We know that amazon hubs can bring in good money, but I don't understand one thing.When I want to buy anything online, apart from an informational e-book or software, I head straight away to amazon. There is no need to search anything over the net since the amazon system is self-sufficient with top products, ratings, user reviews etc. Still why do people surf the net about amazon products( almost all consumer products online are sold by amazon or eBay) reading websites, hubs etc? Understanding this question can help me get started with writing sales hubs. Can anybody throw some light?

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   1. 83

      Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Because they may not have realized they wanted it before reading the hub.
      
      Because they may have been searching for reviews and finally drives to buy and there was the convenient link.
      
      Because not everyone even realizes Amazon exists - that link may be their first experience.

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2. 77

   skyfireposted 14 years ago

   1. Direct Purchase - Those who are convinced about product or know everything about it usually don't waste time with reviews etc.
   
   2. In-direct Purchase >Temptation - Some reviews/hubs have product widget which tempts buyers to get these products. These hubs or reviews may or may not be related to products always but customers click on widget and just shop. These reviews don't have to be 1000 words or higher because exit shoppers don't scroll through that much huge text. You'll be surprised to know that 90% or more hubbers are earning from this 2).
   
   3. In-direct purchase > Text Links - Many hubbers are linking to amazon or product sites in their text and people who are searching for the stuff are clicking on it and shop.
   
   2) and 3) are preferred by online shoppers because they don't want to go to shop unless they're convinced about some product or get tempted with review. Skeptic buyers use online reviews to compare, check negative points and to see if purchase really make sense to them.
   
   They prefer review/suggestion based content because amazon's reviews under product may or may not be genuine (as per their perception of amazon) and so they look for alternate reviews.

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   1. 83

      Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Describes my on-line shopping exactly.  I feel bad when I find a review that convinces me and there is NOT a link I can buy through.

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3. 66

   Bworkyposted 14 years ago

   I shop at Amazon all the time.  Personally, Amazon has occasionally been really lousy at giving me the search results for exactly what I'm looking for without fiddling with lots of categories and stuff. 
   
   If I find the results I need faster with a google search leading to someone with an amazon affiliate site, I'll go ahead and click through when I see what I want.  My natural search terms don't always match Amazon's category expectations, so I usually have a lot of non-relevant results when I shop through the website for anything vaguely specific.

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4. 77

   skyfireposted 14 years ago

   I'm with you on this. Currently searching for hoodies and when i want to narrow my search and switch it just doesn't loads result but just refreshes the current results. For example, mens hoodies search displays female or teens hoodies as well and from there if you try to switch to teens hoodies in category it fails to load. Categories and sorting features are cool but they need to work atleast. Bad Ajax filter.

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