Nothing urgent, but today’s annoyance:
I occasionally search my products and search terms to compare my items to similar products, in a private browser window because I don’t want to skew results (or get ads/emails for "You were just searching for …)
No more. If I try to search ANYTHING anonymously, I’m sent to a dog page and asked to sign in.
Not sure when the change was made, but it’s one more way that Amazon tracks our every move.
We think Amazon has some A/B testing going on with the sponsored ads and placement lay out. AI is getting more involved …
I saw some ■■■■ on the App last night that disturbed me. Organic 1 is now in position 7 following 6 sponsored ads. That’s new. Used to be Organic 1 was position 3.
Walmart does it this way and it’s difficult to sell anything without paying for it. For us, 83% of our sales on Amazon are Organic. Walmart - 22%.
Obviously Amazon is looking to pump up its cash cow - Ad Rev…
Regular desktop and mobile remains as it was (Desktop - 4 sponsored, followed by Organic 1) - (Reg Mobile - 2 sponsored, followed by Organic 1).
@meredithbead - Amazon has been making various changes to searches on not signed in mobile searches. The first that I noticed was the inability to filter reviews in any way. Thought that was strange.
FWIW - On Incognito Chrome, you just need to do this BS first and then you have full functionality on desktop. No Dog Pages
Whatever it’s worth (or not), I’m working on a laptop with Windows 11 using Firefox. I haven’t tried other browsers. Even when I click on an ad or a link from the Amazon home page, I get a sad-looking dog.
I’m noticing a lot more sponsored products showing up. I’m ok I guess with one or two at the top but the other day I scrolled past 6 sponsored products.
I really like shopping by reviews, and often find a lot of products that are sponsored don’t often have reviews or a low amount.
Yea, it’s a money grab by Amazon and some categories seems to be worse than others.
This will only go to further damage Amazon’s reputation with sellers and buyers if it keeps up. Those sponsored listings up top are mostly knockoffs of what you are really searching for OR desperate sellers trying to make the millions they heard about on Youtube or Social Media.
As if CPC’s weren’t high enough already, sellers with well ranked products will now have to pay to play more than ever.
We carefully track our organic sales as a % on a weekly basis. We shall see what happens. Praying the test fails but something tells me that the ■■■ hole that proposed this will find a way to spin it into a win.
I think you’re right.
I opened an incognito window in my mobile Chrome. I was anonymous (not signed in) but allowed to immediately search and filter.
Could it be this change is because they profit margin and revenue on selling ads is much higher than selling product???
I just tried on my PC using Chrome Inconito without log-in, and was able to do search as usual.
Wonder if your issue has something to do with Firefox. I don’t have Firefox, so couldn’t try it to see if it works for me.
… and today it’s working. Clicking on Amazon pics in private browsing search takes me to the correct page.
A/B testing?
Firefox?
Twilight Zone?
Perhaps all of the above or in other words, normal for Amazon.
When I shop on Walmart, I restrict my searches to items available for pickup today. That has got to skew your organic sales in some manner, probably makes the ads more important.
I do the same for target and Walmart now as well. I kind of hate this trend of everyone allowing third party vendors (I know I know…that’s what we all are lol).
But when I am shopping at say target, I want to know that target has done all the best research possible in picking a product to sell and so I know it will be a quality product because they as a company have invested the time to import and store it so it must be good. As someone who’s anxiety peaks when it comes to making a choice I get overwhelmed by seeing 200 items on Amazon and it’s easier to just make a decision at Target or Walmart if they only have 2 or 3 items to choose from. Now that they have third party vendors it’s hard to sort and you need to select the “sold by” in the filter or search local pickup. I think this is why I love Costco so much.
But I get it though, these stores all need to survive and if being able to offer everything while scraping a few pennies off the top by allowing third party vendors to sell on your website reduces various risks of storing inventory or spending money on stuff that might not sell (I thought for sure we would be seeing those $50 skibidi toilets on clearance end caps but they ended up selling quickly! )
I think this year we are going to see a huge drop in retail stores that only focus on niches. Big lots and Party City are gone, Joanns is next on the chopping block and I am thinking Walgreens is starting to have a lot of trouble.
If you can’t swim you sink.
Life on the Prairie
Back in the day, people use to keep last year’s Sears and JC Penny catalogs in the outhouse. They would search the catalogs for things while doing their business. Searched pages that had no value were torn out and used to finish their business in the outhouse (so really … still had some value).
Now a days, the outhouse still exists but they go in with a satellite phone and search the internet sites like Amazon. Heck … they can even order something if they wanted to … right then and there. But in the end … if they went in with only the satellite phone and internet, it is a very unpleasant thing when they have to finish up their business.
These are search issues at a very basic level.
