Redesigning Amazon

I think we can all agree Amazon.com is a pretty uninspiring website, no revelation there. They were once known for pioneering much of what is now referred to as ‘standards’ in ecommerce. These days, the online giant is looking a little worse for wear. Personally, I’ve been avoiding the website for years because of how unappealing I find it, so when I recently went to buy a Kindle I was not surprised to learn of some major fragmentation and usability problems.

Brief History

Let me back up a bit, back in the 90′s US websites were notorious for providing very limited or no shipping options to international customers. Even today, American websites that do offer international shipping generally have bloated or unreasonable pricing. Take one look at eBay and you’ll see what I mean. I’m a massive eBay user, and if you live outside of America you may have noticed other countries (especially the UK) are offering very cheap or even free shipping. Given America’s current economic climate, I think it’s extremely important that large corporations like Amazon don’t shaft their international buyers by treating them like second class citizens. If they keep doing an average job, someone will come along with an above average solution and Amazon will be the next Yahoo… There, I said it!

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