Amazon is, was, and will continue to be my online (mega)store of choice. I love the Amazon Prime service and the free two-day delivery service. It’s become a convenience service for both of us. Unless it’s a real necessity – I’ll likely shop Amazon rather than bother with Target/Wal-Mart/etc on my drive home from work.
But I’m starting to realize that Amazon doesn’t know me as well as it used to. After purchasing all (or nearly all) of my gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays from Amazon for the past two to three years, I now get “RECOMMENDATIONS” that no longer apply to me.
For example, today at Amazon I received the following recommendations:
– CorningWare French White ll 4-Quart Covered Oval Roaster
– OXO Good Grips 65191 Nylon Flexible Turner, Black
– J.A. Henckels Twin Four Star 3-Piece Starter Set with Bonus Steel
– Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Nonstick Bakeware 9-Inch Square Cake Pan
– Pocahontas (10th Anniversary Edition DVD)
– Pink Tongs 12″ by Cuisinart
– OXO Good Grips 28181Garlic Press
(Can you guess who I usually shop for???) 🙂
And while all of those are excellent items, I WOULDN’T BUY ANY OF THEM FOR MYSELF. I don’t cook and I don’t watch DVDs. (We didn’t even own a dvd player for years.)
So now I have to go through the process (yet again) of indicating that these recommendations suck. But the process of doing so also sucks. I have to select each item and tell Amazon that I either a) already own it, b) I’m not interested, or c) go through another two click process to notify Amazon that seed item (which generated the recommendation) was a gift. UGH.
WHAT I REALLY WANT is for Amazon to recognize that — when I am buying items as a gift — the purchases do not reflect my own interests. I want Amazon to know it right then and there (especially if I am already having Amazon gift wrap the items!) When I ship items to someone else, they aren’t for me and those transactions shouldn’t follow me around as future recommendations.
Amazon has one of the best suggestive sell systems in the business today. I just wish there was a way to differentiate my own purchases versus gifts.
In the meantime, Amazon recommends that I buy you a pink spatula. Enjoy.
Does it match my pink whisk? Cuz that would be awesome!
I think that you’ve made a really good point here. I buy a lot of The Boy’sâ„¢ Christmas and birthday (heck, most is more like it) from Amazon, as well as Christmas for the neice and nephews so all of my recommdations are for ages 10 and under. If they can’t set it up for you to notate that its a gift at the time of purchase (which really, we know they can), they should make it a one-click process under their recommendations along with the other two options.