Web Review: Amazon.com

By Gil Galanti

Online jewelry and luxury-goods sales are forecast by Forrester Research to jump almost fivefold from $1.2 billion in 2003 to $5.7 billion in 2008. Thus, it shouldn’t have been a big surprise when Amazon on November 12, 2003 launched its jewelry and watch shop, selling its own merchandise as well as inventory from other retailers. A month and a half later Amazon.com reported the strongest holiday sales in its nine-year history and life had changed for anyone wishing to sell jewelry on the Internet.

With the same look-and-feel as the rest of Amazon stores, the new Jewelry and Watches section offers everything from $15 Sterling Silver Blue Topaz Earrings through well-known designer lines to a $21,250 custom-made certified diamond ring. Among its affiliated designers and brands you will find names like Caroline Ballou (”uses unique stones for contemporary designs”) Diana Heimann (”Wear what the celebrities wear”) and Robert Lee Morris (”Enchanting origami folds spiced with sensuality”).

Yet, you should note that Amazon merchants are independent, third party companies. Thus, in many cases, your jewelry order will be fulfilled directly by an independent merchant, who will also handle all customer service based on its own returns policy.

Amazon is famous for its highly flexible tree-like navigation system, allowing customers to find what they are looking for with minimum effort. Now this A-class system has been appropriately adjusted to allow browsing of jewelry items. Choose “Diamond Solitaries”, for example, from the “Wedding & Engagement” section and get to a page where you can intuitively click “featured items” (Szul.com, Fred Meyer Jewelers, etc). Alternatively, browse “Solitaire” further by material, brand or price while getting additional sub-categories with their exact number of products being up-to-date for each category.

Since it is still being defined as a beta (test) version, Amazon.com is continually testing different features within this store, trying to achieve the best possible experience for jewelry e-shopping. Time will tell, but somehow it feels like it’s going to succeed.

IDEX Website Review is an objective evaluation, expressing clear and balanced opinions on retail diamond and jewelry websites. All articles published in this review are solely under IDEX’s editorial control and are not commercially influenced.

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