Switching from Amazon

Some usual suspects in Time's recent 50 Best Websites list but plenty I wasn't aware of. What interests me more though is the collaborative element to this list. I'm not sure publications such as Time would have engaged their audience this way a few years ago but there is something quite Web 2.0 about the way they're encouraging users to help build, validate and score the list. It brings me back to a question I posed during my session on Web 2.0 at the Worldwide Partner Conference - is your website static and stale or does it engage your customers? More important, does it engage your prospective customers?

About 5 minutes ago I tried to buy Panic from Amazon.co.uk and was astonished when they didn't have any new copies so I headed over to Waterstone's (who I have been talking Web 2.0 with recently). To my surprise their site was fast, easy and simple to use. They're likely to get more of my business for that reason but also because in a weird way I feel good supporting a local retailer rather than a bookshop in the sky - though I can't quite explain why.  Anyway, worth a squint at Waterstone's if you're a UK book reader as they have some nice touches on the site and it's really just books - not kitchen sinks.

Technorati Tags: TIME , Amazon , Waterstone's

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 10, 2007
  And if you want to get an additonal 8% off (eventually), take a look at quidco.com - I've used it for the past year and it's great.