Is it time for retailers to make websites look less boring?

Beauty Bay website 2

All retail websites look pretty much the same, don’t they? Grid format, with products displayed in clickable squares. Is this similarity a good thing for shoppers?

When Jeff Bezos talks, retail tends to listen – even more so when the Amazon boss is putting his money where his mouth is.

So Bezos’ investment, via venture capital fund Village Global – which also counts Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg in its ranks – in tech firm Obsess is worth examining.

Obsess acquired the pre-seed funding from Bezos and co last year but launched last month. Its mission is to “turn online shopping into an experience and replace the monotonous grid ecomm interface that hasn’t changed since it was created by Amazon 25 years ago to sell books”.

Subscription content

Please sign in now if you have a subscription or are already registered with us.

Retail Week

Register for free to continue reading

Retail-Week.com provides premium, in-depth intelligence that helps retailers judge risks, spot opportunities and identify what they need to do to win in the digital economy.

Register today for a taste of our high-quality intelligence and enjoy:

  • Two free article views per calendar month on Retail-Week.com
  • Detailed analysis of current trends and events 
  • Exclusive newsletters
  • In-depth reports, videos, interviews and much more

Discover Retail Week register now

Please note, if you have recently purchased a subscription, it may take a few moments before your account is updated.