I confess I am hooked on Amazon as my go-to place for shopping. Most people complain that Wal-Mart is a big conglomerate that pushes local stores out of business. They are mostly right. But I dare say if others are like me, perhaps Amazon is the new Wal-Mart. I know that there are other sites where I can do my shopping. I also know I can now shop online with the brick-and-mortar stores, but Amazon makes it so easy to shop with it. Besides,Amazon was one of the first sites that said “Hello, Marlene,” whenever I logged in. (Yes, I have sucker written on my forehead, too!)
At first I started buying books through Amazon, then some small electronics. Now it seems like I jump on Amazon’s site to price check everything before I purchase a product elsewhere. I joined the Prime Account program to get the free two-day shipping. It was worth spending the annual feel to waive the shipping costs, because I was buying so many books for both the graduate program that I was in and my son’s undergraduate classes. Amazon also upgraded my account to a Student account that cut the Prime Account fee in half. Needless to say, my shopping with Amazon increased.
The convenience of buying beauty products, books, music, movies, print cartridges, etc., and having these items delivered to my doorstep (okay the lobby) two days later without getting in my car is wonderful. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but that one-click to purchase feature is another thing I like. I don’t have to fill out all my information over and over again. At first I was worried about security, but now I know even the most secure sites experience fraud. Fraud can happen anywhere; I can go to a restaurant and someone can steal my credit card info. My concern lessened enough to sign up for the one-click-to-purchase feature.
I am able to download “free” books, movies and music because of my Prime Account. I find that Amazon’s prices are much softer on my pocket book than the Apple store; therefore, I would buy my music on Amazon download it to my laptop and play it on iTunes. While I am not using Amazon’s Cloud Solution, I know they have heavily marketed this product/service to many businesses.
I wouldn’t be surprise if an announcement comes out that Amazon is buying a TV or cable station along with a telecommunications carrier. After all content is king and you still need a way to get the info to the end-user. Google bought a wireless provider to shore up it’s control of its content delivery method, but I don’t buy my beauty products from Google. I don’t know who knows more about me: Amazon, Google, or Facebook. I suspect Amazon may have the edge on the others due to my shopping habits.
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