They can play with different UI ideas, different branding ideas, different promotional strategies, all kinds of things, and see what works, at a cost which for Amazon is no doubt negligible. If it’s a stinker, they can drown it in the well out back without anyone being the wiser. And if this or any similar small scale venture takes off, they can take what’s generalizeable about it and integrate it into the main Amazon site.

I’m reminded of Google Labs, actually– throw ten smart people at each of 50 problems, if any of them actually hit on something cool, either integrate it into the main Google offering or just push it on its own. If none of them hit on anything then compared to the amount of business you’re doing it’s still pretty harmless.

another possibility is that these two are different divisions (or even companies) inside with different technical crews and management. this was possibility done to ensure continued growth without HQ interferance.

-Chris

I have written a few times on my blog about Creative Domain Marketing but the real credit must go to these guys (http://searchdo...n-marketing.htm) for tracking and reporting on the trend.

http://www.dnjournal.com also did a recent piece on the phenomenon. Here is the link – http://dnjourna...s/2006/july.htm

I actually never buy shoes of Zappos for this reason – I don’t care for the brands they carry, including the couture store. Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorfgoodman are the main ones I shop.

And Endless has some beautiful ballet flats, but none of them have I seen in my big ol’ size 11 yet!

http://paulamoo...ey.blogspot.com

I just got a pair of $220 flat sole chocolate brown fold over boots for $23 shipped off the regular Amazon site, so Amazon’s definitely on my good side. I think they need a little work on the user experience if they come strong into the womens shopping/fashion niche, but overall, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

So, even if amazon comes up with this categories plan they shall start with fast moving consumer goods as well.

This is standard with some lines of footwear; some are only euro sized. It gets dodgy when attempting to translate because they’re different by gender and product line. However, with the resources of Amazon this should be a no brainer. I’ve done it with a 1 person resource (me).

Endless, unlike Gap’s poor attempt at a shoe site Piperlime, actually has a chance to compete with Zappos. What I like about the site is that it combines the look and feel of Bluefly.com, a site potential Endless shopper will certainly be familiar, with excellent features (zoom detail, the amazing price scale, etc) that really enhance the user experience. From a marketing perspective- they have the Amazon machine with it huge affiliate program that can easily be corralled to help sell the products on.

Plus the free overnight shipping is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

My one pet peeve, and this is a big one, is that they have little or no info about the heel height of the shoe. May not seem like a big deal to a guy, but there’s a huge difference between a 2in and 4in heel and as frequent online (and offline) shoe shopper this omission would stop me from purchasing the shoe.

Natali: You’re right everyone does love a bargain. We’re in the middle of conducting the Annual Budget Fashionista Shopping Survey (http://www.theb..._the_budget.php) , and of the 1000+ respondents so far, 31% have household incomes of $100K or more with 8% of the 1000+ having incomes of 200K or more.