December 7, 2022

 

You may have heard the term “infinite shelf”, which is meant to describe the unlimited number of items Amazon (and increasingly Walmart) sell. 

 

Searching for “ice cream scoop” returns 1,000+ options on Amazon compared to the 14 results at the local Target store.

 

But “infinite shelf” misleads digital practitioners.

99% of the 1,000+ options don’t matter.

Rather, just the top few items will actually be seen, clicked and bought by shoppers.

 

Items lower on the search results are rarely seen, and items on page two and beyond are effectively never seen. 

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