Why Do So Many People Shop At Amazon

With total 2010 revenue of $34 billion dollars and net income of just over $1 billion, it is safe to say that Amazon.com is one of the most popular websites on the planet. It is hard to beat a website that sells just about anything a consumer could imagine, and the best part about their layout is that you can compare the prices of rival customers’ right there next to Amazon’s. If another website sells the item for less money Amazon.com does not try to convince you to buy their product, which is truly rare in any type of sales much less dealing with the technology of online purchases.

That alone may not have you reaching for your wallets just yet, but that is because we’ve barely scratched the surface of the savings and convenience Amazon offers. Here are a few more of them:

1)Global Rankings

Let’s say that you’re on the market for a new spatula for your kitchen, but youve held off buying one because youre searching for the absolute best spatula ever made. Now, if you visit a specialty store (if one even exists for spatulas) a salesman will grab his most expensive model and say, “This is truly the best spatula you will ever see.” The problem with this is who knows if the sales clerk is telling the truth or not, or how much commission they stand to make from lying to you.

On Amazon, when you search for an item there are many different customizations for that will help eliminate products that have no interest to you. As soon as you click on the item you will see how many units of that particular model have sold this year, how popular it is within its category, and what customers who looked at that item ultimately bought.

2)Customer Reviews

Going back to the spatula example for a moment, let’s say you could walk into a store where there are thousands of customers lined up to answer any question that could possibly cross your mind about which spatula is the best. Each of those consumers have personally bought every spatula ever created so they know firsthand how well each of them work, and if the spatula you’re looking at is lousy they’re not afraid for a second to say it. Wouldn’t this be the ultimate way to shop?

Well, that’s exactly what Amazon.com gives you, because there are hundreds of thousands of customer reviews giving an unbiased opinion of almost every item on their website. Many smart consumers never even bother to read what the manufacturer has to say about their product anymore because they realize that the business behind the product will say just about anything to convince you to buy it. Amazon customer reviews eliminate all of that deceit and headache, so you can quickly find exactly what you are looking for by learning from others.

3)Buying Power

Let’s say you run down to Joe’s Spatula Emporium and see that his top of the line super-spatula is $29.95. Now, Joe has six of those great tools in stock and he probably will not buy anymore until all of them are sold. When Amazon bought that exact same spatula, they purchased thousands of them and they likely reorder as they are depleted from their inventory. Which place do you think the super-spatula manufacturer gives the better prices to?

This type of concept is why the big stores around the world continue to get bigger, and Amazon.com is definitely no exception. Their prices are nearly unbeatable because they receive inventory by the truckloads every single day and few places on Earth can match their purchasing power. If they do not personally stock the item, they find out which stores have the largest purchasing power for it and they sponsor them on their website.