Competition

Amazon.com has become pretty cool with their recommendations and new interface and such, but it's still a store, like any other. Case in point:

I used Amazon's cool new "lists" feature to create a gift list for Beth. When I finally decided to buy, I discovered that they were out of stock on one item. I was going to order the only other thing on the list, but it was under $25 (no free shipping). So, what the hell - I went to my own wish list (only to find that half the shit on it was no longer available) to find something that would bring the total above that required to get shipping free. I found one thing, added it to my cart and voila! It was currently unavailable from the supplier. Seems odd since it was a NYT bestseller.

Off to buy.com I went, and got everything I needed (read: nothing for myself). No wish list there, just impulse at its best working for me.

I found it cool that it was just like the good ol' days when one couldn't find something at Wal-Mart. He just went to Kmart or Target and got it. Only today I didn't have to even stand up, walk down an aisle (or fart in it), or speak to a single person, but Amazon.com knows that I didn't buy anything today and left their site to go directly to buy.com. They know what they need to do.