Now the reviews and rating are meaningless noise and I have to pick out a product to buy by looking elsewhere, which also typically results in me buying things elsewhere.
What alternative do people have here in the US? Go to an actual store? I just went to a local Home Depot to buy a power tool. The store was basically stock out on the thing I wanted from every available manufacturer, of which there are 5-6 Home Depot carries. But I could go on the Home Depot website and get any of them. Amazon destroyed physical retail, and now sits on the rubble and collects rent. The supreme irony is that Amazon is now ... opening physical locations. They built their empire on the notion that a storefront is a quaint anachronism of the undigital dark ages, why would they do that?
Not good for Amazon.
Legit manufacturers hate Amazon due to counterfeits. Ali is cheaper. Shopping websites get easier to make every year. Sellers can hook up to multiple websites easily. What's Amazon's moat? It's been "the reviews".