[anuraggoel]

This sounds reasonable. But I've always wondered about Amazon.com's UI strategy in the context of choice - they always show me much more crap than I am interested in: on the home page, on search result pages, on product detail pages, pretty much everywhere on their site. Right now I can see well over 30 'recommended' items on their homepage (and this is after the huge Kindle ad). Surely they've conducted A/B tests. Why don't they see the same results?

[fauigerzigerk]

That's a good point. I think it depends on the kind of segmentation that is either implied or suggested via categories. On my amazon.com home page there are 3 energy generation gadgets (solar, wind, UPS), 1 laptop, 5 harddisks, 6 gift baskets, 6 home entertainment items, 10 kitchen utensils and 6 pieces of jewellery.

Almost all categories contain 6 or fewer items. For some reason they seem to be assuming that people buying stuff for the kitchen can handle more choice. Before I fall for some stereotype I'll stop commenting on this one ;-)

[vaksel]

thats not choice though, that's pretty much Amazon's equivalent of a product aisle.

[anuraggoel]

Fair point, but isn't the jam example also a product aisle with 24 varieties of jam? My current frontpage recommendations include around 15 laptops and 15 books - I can't possibly buy all of them - aren't they asking me to choose? If they showed me just three from each product category, and fewer categories overall, I might actually be interested in the recommendations.

[greendestiny]

I guess its something to do with the ability make a decision and short term memory. Interchangable products makes decision making hard because they need to be considered at once. Products in other categories don't need to be held in your head while you choose between them.

[mikeyur]

The homepage is much more like the deal/coupon rack that most grocery stores have (or had). It shows what's new, on sale, etc to spark some interest.

[vaksel]

well at that point they really have no idea what you need, throwing up the crapload of choice is just there in the hopes that you see a good deal and click buy,

They figure that if you are looking for something specific, you'll just use the search feature

[richcollins]

I doubt they ever tested a minimalist UI.