Click here for a free book! (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: chris105

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	04/04/02 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: convenient, huge database of titles

Disadvantages: cannot physically browse a book, delivery charges exorbitant

Love it or loathe it, amazon changed the way we buy and relate to books. Those of us who love it see it as the ultimate empowerer, giving us instant click-and-pay access to vast libraries of titles unbeatable by any corner store. Those of us who loathe it, generally do because of the firm's perceived vulgarisation of the noble and high art of reading.

So free marketeers and elitist snobs - both from their opposite ends - find that amazon.com (and its various siblings, including the above-mentioned amazon.co.uk) winds them up.

There's no doubt that, before the onset of amazon as a book-selling force to be reckoned with, less people thought of books and reading as a live pastime. Music was hip, as were movies. But not books - those were for socially-challenged nerds. Then, suddenly, with the advent of the internet and the first tentative steps of e-commerce sites, amazon made book-buying trendy and cool. Everyone was browsing; some were buying. Sending book gifts to people living far (and near) was the "in" thing to do in the Christmas of 5 years ago or so. People who had never set foot in a bookstore in their entire lives were cheerfully clicking away and awaiting their postal delivery.

If only for this reason, amazon is to be commended. Anything that promotes reading, albeit for its own commercial reasons, is to be welcomed.

And we haven't mentioned prices yet. Contemporaneously with the liberalisation of prices in brick-and-mortar bookstores (which some say was speeded by the advent of amazon itself), amazon was offering ridiculous (up to 50% or 60%) reductions, not on end-of-stock remainders, but on today's hottest bestsellers. Fancy a Grisham? Chop 40$ off the recommended retail price! Want to meet Harry Potter? Pay half price!

This enticed many a surfer to buy. On the other hand, amazon is renowned for its notoriously high postage and delivery rates, so that in the majority of cases the savin
gs made through amazon's generous discount structure are wiped out by the exorbitant postage and packing charges. And this is if you live in the UK. If you're unlucky enough to be an overseas customer, then the rates shoot up even more. In my experience, it's been very rare to find a book that didn't finally work out more expensive via amazon (taking into account delivery charges) than via a traditional offline bookstore.

But that's marketing for you. The attraction of amazon is undoubtedly its instant availability, its ability to browse and impulse-buy without leaving the comfort of the living-room/study chair. And that counts for a lot in all e-commerce...

The site itself, amazon.co.uk, is as sleek as they come. (Of course, nowadays amazon sells books and almost everything else, however this op falls under the "online book shops" category so I'll limit myself to books. Suffice it to know that the other options do exist.) Upon entering, a welcome page provides a taste of what's on offer, trying to tempt with an array of slashed-price bestsellers. And if you've previously registered with amazon and bought something (and as long as you've got cookies enabled in your web browser), smart amazon will customise your welcome page to your tastes. So if you've ordered Jamie Oliver from amazon, be prepared for an onslaught of Nigella Bites, Delia et al on your welcome page!

Searching for a book couldn't be easier. Books are clearly and intuitively sub-divided into categories; alternatively there's a powerful search facility where books may be searched for by title, by author, by publisher or by ISBN - and searches may be limited to paperback or hardback editions. Once found, a click will bring up all the relevant (and some irrelevant, truth be told) details on the book in question: price, publisher, ISBN, number of pages, availability as well as a short description and, in most cases, an ima
ge of the front cover.

Availability is, from my experience, somewhat hit and miss. Books marked as being in stock are the only ones with a reasonably truthful delivery date, in that these are despatched from amazon's own warehouse immediately upon confirmation of order and verification of credit card details. Where books are marked as "should be available in x days/weeks", beware - these are standard phrases that reflect anything but the real situation. What that phrase means is that amazon does not stock the title but has the publisher's details. What amazon staff do is order the book from the publisher, who will then send it to amazon from whence it will be forwarded to you...

...Assuming, that is, that the book is still in print. Should the book be out of print, or even temporarily out of stock or reprinting, amazon will not necessarily know beforehand. In fact, unless someone else has ordered the same book earlier and amazon has had the opportunity to update its records accordingly, chances are that the book will be marked as "should be available..." irrespectively. And you will be the guinea pig who'll find out for amazon that the book is temporarily unavailable.

So I would suggest, do not order a book from amazon if you require it relatively urgently and if it is not in stock. Otherwise, be prepared for a potentially long wait...

Another interesting feature of amazon is the peer review facility. While nowhere as comprehensive or reliable as dooyoo, it does provide paragraphs written by consumers (not necessarily buyers, though - anyone may post a review) discussing the book. These contributions, though, are of varying quality, more often than not being of dubious impartiality. They are nothing near the objective assessments found in sites such as dooyoo. By far more reliable is amazon's own critique of the product, which is often (not always) found to precede the readers' reviews.


Once you have decided on the book you want to order, ordering itself could not be simpler. A series of clearly-guided clicks will have you indicating a delivery address, an invoice address (if different from delivery, say in the case of a gift), and credit card details. I believe amazon also provides the opportunity to pay by cheque, however this delays the process immensely since amazon will obviously await receipt and cashing-in of cheque prior to despatching the book/s.

Finally, two practical features offered by amazon are the option to gift-wrap a present (at extra cost), having it sent accompanied by a personalised note, and the admittedly gimmicky "wishlist" feature. In the latter, anyone who has registered with amazon may set up a wishlist where s/he indicates the books s/he'd "like to receive"... It's a kind of electronic hint, hint method to relatives and friends. Can be useful, though...

Bottom line for the amazon shopping experience is that the site is undeniably addictive and eminently browsable, and is very useful for ordering that hard-to-find book or gift to far-flung friend/relative; however for personal shopping, nothing beats the actual physical browsing of a book prior to buying.

So make your choice. Then, most importantly, have fun reading.

*******

And for the moment, it's "a bientot"!

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