Class Today

Today in class we read a really interesting article about Amazon. The main issue in the article revolved around the fact that Amazon's loyal customers are growing angry because it seems that new customers are receiving greater discounts. Old customers found that by making small changes to their computers to avoid cookie files they were offered better prices. Angry discussion forum posts state that Amazon's behavior is "unethical" and "sneaky." Amazon claims that the price differentials do not reflect whether customers are new or old. Rather, the are the result of various buyer behavior tests. The company maintains the sole purpose of the tests is to discover how different price levels affect purchasing behavior. A spokeswoman for Amazon claims, "It's quite a standard procedure in retailing." Regardless of whether the company used cookies or not, the central point of the article is that as technology becomes more advanced and common, buying histories are expected to make a difference in price. How will this affect e-commerce in the future? Time will tell.