SIGIA-L Mail Archives: SIGIA-L: Amazon.com's "related item
SIGIA-L: Amazon.com's "related items" options
From: Lyle_Kantrovich_at_cargill.com
Date: Tue May 15 2001 - 13:36:47 EDT
Just followed a link from Don Norman's jnd site and found this a bit
interesting and also confusing.
Looking at the following page:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/0201626950/0/101/1/none/ref%3Dpd%5Fsim%5Fr0/107-7635823-3840503
Below
the info about Don's book it provides an option on the left of the
screen to show items that are "closely, moderately or loosely" related
(selected by radio buttons). It appears that the closely related items
are indeed closely related (e.g. other books by Don). The "moderately"
related option shows other usability and design books...looks great.
BUT, the "loosely" related option shows items that seem to have no
PRODUCT similarities or relationship with the current product -- it
shows a soundtrack, six movie titles, a DSL router and a Palm Pilot
case. Trying this feature with other products, the "loosely" related
option shows some items that seem to be more similar, but it's very hit
and miss. (e.g. what does a "1-Quart Vacuum Insulated Coffee Press"
have to do with "Bruce Springsteen Live in NYC"?)
I love the concept Amazon is trying to deliver, but it seems like they
could almost eliminate the "loosely" related option altogether. As a
user, I'm not able to figure out how these things are related -- other
than by sales numbers, which if you apply that logic to enough
categories (think Amazon.com 2010), would tell me that toilet paper and
hamburger are closely related to a book on Renoir's paintings because
everybody buys those items. Okay, maybe hamburger isn't a good example
in the UK lately. :)
Anyone see any merit in this functionality? Why even go beyond the
"closely related" list? Seems like feature bloat potentially.
Regards,
Lyle Kantrovich
User Experience Architect
Cargill
http://www.cargill.com
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