There is a new icon on Amazon’s website, the Amazon snowflake, which is designed to have you singing while you jingle all the way to the check-out screen- but is it clever or diabolical?
Retail giant Amazon recognized that shopping online eliminated the full holiday shopping experience since there’s no decorations, lights or Christmas music to put you in the spirit of spending.
So they made the Amazon snowflake: a small icon that will play music when you click on it, so you’ll feel just like your shopping in the store (minus the crowds and without having to trek out in the cold).
The snowflake, which has a little musical note in it, can be found at the top of Amazon’s main page and would seem like an ingenious idea, but there are 2 major flaws.
The first is that while Prime members have access to over 43 different songs to stream non-prime members only get to sample 30-second clips of the 43 songs.
If they want to hear any or all of the songs in their entirety the can either sign up to try Amazon Prime to gain full access or buy individual songs for $0.99 and up.
Making it free for only Prime members seems anything but holiday like in spirit. Plus, non-prime members will be annoyed at having to stop every 30 seconds to go click on the next song to play since they don’t play continuously in this mode. .
The second problem is that while the songs are traditional, they are sung by some of today’s popular artists, so those looking for Bing Crosby or other original Christmas carols will be disappointed.
In my opinion Amazon could of had a really great idea, but they dropped the ball by limiting access and not having enough of a diverse mix of old and new Christmas tunes.
If I want to feel the Christmas spirit I can go to any store and experience it for free.
What do you think of the Amazon snowflake- clever or gimmicky? Comment below and tell us what you think.