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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday September 19 2019, @10:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the i-scratch-my-back dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow6430

WSJ: Amazon changed search results to boost profits despite internal dissent

Amazon changed its search algorithm in ways that boost its own products despite concerns raised by employees who opposed the move, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The change was made late last year and was "contested internally," the WSJ reported. People who worked on the project told the WSJ that "Amazon optimized the secret algorithm that ranks listings so that instead of showing customers mainly the most-relevant and best-selling listings when they search—as it had for more than a decade—the site also gives a boost to items that are more profitable for the company."

The goal was to favor Amazon-made products as well as third-party products that rank high in "what the company calls 'contribution profit,' considered a better measure of a product's profitability because it factors in non-fixed expenses such as shipping and advertising, leaving the amount left over to cover Amazon's fixed costs," the WSJ said.

Amazon made the change indirectly, the WSJ reported. Instead of adding profitability into the algorithm itself, Amazon changed the algorithm to prioritize factors that correlate with profitability, the article said.

When contacted by Ars, Amazon said it does not optimize the ranking of its search results for profitability.

In a statement, Amazon said:

The Wall Street Journal has it wrong. We explained at length that their 'scoop' from unnamed sources was not factually accurate, but they went ahead with the story anyway. The fact is that we have not changed the criteria we use to rank search results to include profitability. We feature the products customers will want, regardless of whether they are our own brands or products offered by our selling partners. As any store would do, we consider the profitability of the products we list and feature on the site, but it is just one metric and not in any way a key driver of what we show customers.


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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 19 2019, @04:31PM (5 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday September 19 2019, @04:31PM (#896141) Journal

    Rupert's Rag in a turf war with Bezos's Blog.

    Would it really be abnormal for a store to put its own brand up front? Where are they going with this? Aside from high drama?

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 19 2019, @06:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 19 2019, @06:29PM (#896199)

    "Bezos's Blog."

    the washington post?

  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday September 20 2019, @02:27AM (3 children)

    by Hartree (195) on Friday September 20 2019, @02:27AM (#896351)

    "Would it really be abnormal for a store to put its own brand up front?"

    Yes, it would be. Grocery stores, for example. Even a behemoth like Walmart is careful not to overshadow the popular name products area with its own house brands.

    No one encroaches on Coke's or PepsiCo's little fiefdom areas of shelves. The house brand chips are well segregated from the bastion of Frito Lay.

    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday September 20 2019, @02:54AM (2 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday September 20 2019, @02:54AM (#896357) Journal

      Is not Amazon subject to the same pressure?

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday September 20 2019, @03:07AM (1 child)

        by Hartree (195) on Friday September 20 2019, @03:07AM (#896363)

        Yes, for those with similar clout to what the mega consumer brands have. And in time it may have an impact.

        But "late last year" may not have been long enough for that sort of feedback to occur. Also, it's a lot harder to gauge search results (which may vary from user to user in our day of web tracking) than it is to walk into a store and look at the displays and detect that it's happening. You have to go off of sales decreases which may be due to many other factors.

        In the grocery store business, display prominence and such is monitored often by the large consumer products companies.

        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday September 20 2019, @03:25AM

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday September 20 2019, @03:25AM (#896369) Journal

          Heh, retail is very gansta...

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..