XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: jclarkeusenet@cox.net   
      
   In article ,   
   droleary@8usenet2013.subsume.com says...   
   >   
   > In article ,   
   >  Robert Bannister  wrote:   
   >   
   > > The problems I see are that one thing you nearly forgot, but when you   
   > > saw it in the supermarket, you remembered.   
   >   
   > No reason an online store couldn't have a "layout" that showed you   
   > things you weren't necessarily looking for.  Hell, it should probably be   
   > a feature of any online store to show you what is new, compared to local   
   > stores where you sometimes have to be lucky to notice where something   
   > gets put on the shelves.   
      
   What does "new" have to do with anything?  Walking past the candy   
   display one realizes that one has a craving for jelly beans and buys a   
   bag on impulse.  If it was an online order I would pass--I want jelly   
   beans now, not next week.   
      
   > > Then, from the retailer's   
   > > point of view, many people impulse buy stuff they see when shopping on   
   > > top of what they need.   
   >   
   > [Putting on my cynical marketroid hat . . .]   
   >   
   > Ah, but you see, if the *only* time a customer can have that experience   
   > is when they're in the store, we miss out on a lot of opportunities to   
   > upsell them things they don't need.   
      
   It's not the only time.   
      
   > What we want is the ability to not   
   > only show them what else they can buy when they're using our site/app,   
   > but any time they see an ad for the product in their daily life, or have   
   > a craving of any kind.  Give them the ability to buy immediately rather   
   > than having them wait to get to the store and possibly change their   
   > minds!   
      
   So they click on the ad and order the product.  Do they order direct   
   from the manufacturer or from Amazon or from who?   
      
   > > None of this with online buying. I know when I am   
   > > buying online I do notice things that I would like, but I am more   
   > > conscious of how much money I am spending.   
   >   
   > Who's fault is that?  If the online store wanted to, they could do the   
   > "one click" thing, or otherwise decouple individual purchases from any   
   > sort of cart/total you can audit.   
      
   I suspect that the Federal Trade Commission will have soemthing to say   
   about that.   
      
   > If I were a big store like Amazon,   
   > I'd try to limit my reporting of totals to whenever I charged your   
   > credit card.   
      
   And the FTC would then try to limit your selling to that that you could   
   do from a prison cell.   
      
   > Maybe that's every item, or maybe that's only once a   
   > month, or maybe some constant multiple of $10, depending on what is   
   > psychologically more soothing.  Much better than your having to fret   
   > about the total for every "trip" like you do going to a local market.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)