November 28, 2005

Amazon Breaks the Marketing Mold with the Launch of Product Wikis on its Site

Amazon has launched a new feature called ProductWiki, which allows for "customer editable product information" to appear right alongside most, if not all, of the items the company sells. Some believe this marks a huge shift in how products are marketed online.

This looks like a big move in several ways, say Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba on their Church of the Consumer blog:

• It should help Amazon sell more because each product listing can have vastly better levels of information.
• It provides shoppers greater depth of content that bypasses marketing spin.
• It provides checks and balances to what can be seriously flawed product reviews.
• It introduces the emerging concept of customer collaboration to a massive audience.

Of course, it also introduces new levels of complexity to product marketers, who will need to keep a close ear to their product wikis and participate in the collaboration.