However, in order to grow more, Amazon have made changes to their search engine so that the result shown can get them more profit. This has been reported by many news articles. Implementing changes to its search engine to make more profit in their product is not at all ethical. By doing this they are ignoring the relevance of the product for the customers.
The Modification of Search Results Done by Amazon
According to some press articles, Amazon started making alterations to its own search results. They began applying these modifications starting last year for prioritizing profitability over relevance. These modifications were encouraged by the retail division because they helped to boost products of Amazon in the search listing.
To avoid any opposition concerns in the time where the part of Amazon as a platform as well as a product company is under examination, they do not boost their products only based on the profitability. Rather, the search engine takes into consideration other factors to give the correct result. Combining all of these factors, the effect is increased on profitable products.
However, Amazon denied the fact that it has done modification to the search engine to consider profitability. This does make us dismiss news reported by the newspaper completely.
At the starting of 2019, a news article accused Amazon of working against the smaller businessman by manipulating their search results to show only the profitable products.
Forcing the Search Engineers
According to a renowned newspaper, the lawyers of Amazon has suggested against using the algorithms to make a profit as it may make the regulators angry. However, Amazon has opted not to support its brand at the cost of the relevance of their product to the customers.
It was also reported that there was an internal battle going on between the retail executives of Amazon and the engineers at Amazon/ A9. This was because the engineers of Amazon/ A9 wanted to be independent. The former engineers of Amazon confirmed this allegation by saying that the company always tried to make their product more profitable.
Why it Concerns Us?
If it is confirmed that the algorithm of Amazon is “biased”, then it will generate a lack of trust among the marketers and the customers. It is expected that the search advertisement share of Amazon will grow considerably in the coming years. However, the news of Amazon manipulating its search results to make more profit on its own products may result in slowing down its growth.
Although, by how much it will decrease is still unclear. But the biggest problem for Amazon is the state attorneys and the federal investigators. The allegations in the news articles will result in the discovery of documents and the company will be investigated minutely.
Moreover, if these allegations about the search bias are confirmed, then they will face heavy financial penalties.
Amazon has Exceeded Google Search Results
Amazon has done this within a period of 3 years. In these 3 years, people have used Amazon more than Google for performing product searches. According to a report, the two big search engines have switched places in case of the searches performed. Amazon moved up from 46% to 54% and Google moved down from 54% to 46%.
It is seen that almost 90% of the searches for the products of Amazon is coming from their own site. And the rest may be coming from the merchandising, advertising, and product aggregators.
Amazon has about 80% of the share in the market in numerous categories. This makes it harder for them to increase their share. However, Amazon can grow in categories like beauty products, in which it has a share of 72%; furniture, in which it has a share of 47%; and Women’s clothing, in which it has a share of 42%.
Amazon and Google have been competing in other fields to overtake each other. The market of the smart speakers is dominated b Amazon, but the growth for Google is also very consistent. Google dominates the video market with apps like YouTube and YouTube TV. Amazon has also started its own video streaming service called Amazon Prime Video.
Conclusion
Amazon has grown to a great extent over the past few years. It has even exceeded Google search results. But, that does not mean that they will use these algorithms to make their product get more profit. They should see that the search results which are coming, are of relevance to the customers. If the customers do not find the result relevant, they might quit the site.
Moreover, they may face financial penalties for doing such manipulations in the results. Other e-commerce sites may also file charges against them. This can ultimately cause their downfall. Hence they should remove the algorithm immediately.