Recently it became clear to me that my Amazon shopping has been limited to stuff I don't really care about that much.
These are product categories (and european sources) I frequently buy from, yet Amazon hardly serves any of them competently:
- studio equipment (Thomann)
- audio equipment (countless niche, yet competent HIFI shops)
- computer hardware / technology (Really, where to start? Alternate, Mindfactory, Apple)
- bike components (Rose, Mantel, ...)
- tea (Teekontor Kiel)
- clothing (Rapha, Uniqlo, Zara)
For most of these categories Amazon is completely useless. Discovery is abysmal. Selection is mediocre. Product data / listings are a mess and show repeated results with slightly different, often incomplete variations from multiple sellers. Alternatively you get one single product page that features countless, sometimes unrelated product variations that may or may not be Prime-eligible.
Maybe Amazon is fine with me buying cheap stuff from them and I still value their Prime-powered, reliable next-day delivery, but for important, expensive stuff I expect some degree of curation and will use other stores. At this point Amazon is slightly better than eBay.