I'm not sure whether it's aging, or modern business strategies, but I'm frequently reminded that businesses don't want to sell me what I want - they want to sell me what they want me to buy. If grocery stores carry what I came for at all, it's probably on a very high shelf (with no ladder available) or a very low one. Or they stocked a whole two loaves of rye bread, when they have customers who'd happily collectively purchase a dozen per day.
This had been driving me to Amazon for just about everything they'd carry, but then I looked up a specific book, and they showed me five others, with the one I asked for buried in the middle of these recommendations. (It turns out I wasn't logged in at the time.) At least Amazon still has a lot more variety than its bricks-and-mortar competition, but apparently they don't want people using it. (I bought the book in question from Barnes & Noble, which charged me about 30% more than Amazon would have.)
In some cases, I think they've decided to carry only a handful of popular things. In others, I think they have a business model where they are paid for shelf space, and the manufacturers of the things I want aren't paying enough, or aren't paying to promote the things I'm eager to buy. In the worst cases, they are pushing things with the highest profit margins, figuring that sufficient advertising (and lack of choice) will convince the "customers" to buy them. And then there are a large number of algorithms, making predictions that may be statistically valid (or not), but are blatantly and obviously incorrect for individual users, at least those not properly programmed.
Only one thing is certain - they all despise the idea that the customer is always right. A customer is just another device to be programmed for their benefit.
no subject
This had been driving me to Amazon for just about everything they'd carry, but then I looked up a specific book, and they showed me five others, with the one I asked for buried in the middle of these recommendations. (It turns out I wasn't logged in at the time.) At least Amazon still has a lot more variety than its bricks-and-mortar competition, but apparently they don't want people using it. (I bought the book in question from Barnes & Noble, which charged me about 30% more than Amazon would have.)
In some cases, I think they've decided to carry only a handful of popular things. In others, I think they have a business model where they are paid for shelf space, and the manufacturers of the things I want aren't paying enough, or aren't paying to promote the things I'm eager to buy. In the worst cases, they are pushing things with the highest profit margins, figuring that sufficient advertising (and lack of choice) will convince the "customers" to buy them. And then there are a large number of algorithms, making predictions that may be statistically valid (or not), but are blatantly and obviously incorrect for individual users, at least those not properly programmed.
Only one thing is certain - they all despise the idea that the customer is always right. A customer is just another device to be programmed for their benefit.