Amazon has quietly launched a new feature offering shoppers personalized suggestions of products they might like to buy. Called “My Mix,” the addition is tied to Amazon’s “Interesting Finds” — the curated gift shop introduced last year that provides a Pinterest-like experience for discovering products across Amazon’s vast website.
“Interesting Finds,” which evolved out of an earlier product called “Amazon Stream,” is the latest in Amazon’s efforts to become a place where shoppers browse and get inspired, instead of a place where you search for products you know you already need or want.
Similar to startups like the shopping service Canopy, this section of Amazon’s website has evolved in recent months from a simple page with just a few categories (Women, Men and Fun) to one that now organizes products into more than two dozen different sections.
It also is no longer tucked away under hidden menus, but prominently featured at the top of Amazon.com via a big banner ad.
On the site, you browse through products within its category pages, which can be as broad as “Women,” as popular as “Bikes,” or as niche as “Mid-Century.” There also are collections on each page that are like mini-shops with a grouping of themed items — like “Travel in Style,” “Fun with Photos” or “Green Thumb,” for example.
You can favorite both the items and the shops, then return to them later under the “My Hearts” section. Or you can purchase items immediately by clicking through to the product detail page and checking out.
More recently, Amazon added a feature called “My Mix,” which is informed by your favoriting activity. As you like more items across “Interesting Finds,” Amazon builds you a custom shop with other items it thinks you might like, too.
These suggestions are better than the Amazon.com homepage recommendations, which are directly tied to your past purchases and browsing history — those have become more of a stale reminder of things you just bought or still need to purchase. “My Mix” suggestions are more… well, fun.
The personalized shop is found at the beginning of the scrollable bar of category pages on the “Interesting Finds” site, and has a little red notification dot beside it when there are new items in your shop.
As the page explains, as you like (heart) new items in the shop and across Interesting Finds, your “My Mix” shop will also update with new product suggestions. The shop is refreshed several times a day, says Amazon.
After you look through your personalized recommendations, you can continue exploring more products from “Interesting Finds” by scrolling down. This turns into an endless page of products on both web and mobile — you never reach the bottom of the page as more products are added with each scroll.
Having used “Interesting Finds” for some time, I have to admit it has impacted my Pinterest use. While I still find myself on Pinterest for broader “ideas” — like decorating tips, nail colors or crafts — in terms of seeking product inspiration that translates into actual purchases, “Interesting Finds” can be a little addictive, I found.
That being said, the suggestions on “My Mix” weren’t 100 percent successful. Some were just “Hearts” I had already saved, while others were similar products to those I had favorited before. And they didn’t seem to take into account my past purchases. For example, I was looking for a new travel toiletry bag earlier, had found one via “Interesting Finds, and bought it. But my “My Mix” continues to offer toiletry bag suggestions. Ah, nope — I’m good now, thanks!
Amazon tells us “My Mix” uses a number of sources to determine what to show.
“We don’t filter anything out by vendor or by price; it is all based on what customers have previously hearted,” a spokesperson explained. “The items in ‘My Mix’ are refreshed numerous times throughout the day, so customers should heart anything they want to save because they probably won’t be there when they come back.”
While “My Mix” may need some improvements, it functions well as a quicker way to browse Amazon’s “Interesting Finds” product suggestions, without requiring you to click through each category page.
“Interesting Finds” launched on the desktop last June, and then arrived on iPhone in November, and Android in December. The “My Mix” feature, which launched in May, is available on desktop, iOS and Android.
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