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Andronico's and Amazon.com offer interesting an interesting comparison in organizational principles between digital and physical stores. On a broader level their organizational principles are roughly the same: commerce, security, and storage. But the relationship between those principles and the resources of the store is what makes this analysis particularly interesting.

There is plenty of contrast between the stores in terms of selection. Andronico's focuses mostly on food and beverages: with items such as freshly baked bread from the bakery or a custom cut of organic grass fed beef that would not ship well. Amazon offers everything: from services, to clothing, to digital downloads, to golf clubs, and books. Andronico's sells what Amazon largely can't—fresh food that spoils easily. Out of over 100 links on the main section of the directory page, only two link too food. 

The main organizing principles behind Andronico's store layout fall in three large categories of Security, Commerce, and Maintenance. First, Security is a very important organizing principle. Its function is to limit certain types of interactions. Starting with the Piggly Wiggly, the first self-service grocery store, customers have been allowed to handle the merchandise, and unlike in the Amazon store, there is always the chance that someone could walk in and steal something (there is a reason the expensive single malt Scotch is kept behind glass). In the physical layout of the store there are only two customer entrances, and both are located near the checkout. Anyone who wishes to leave the store is forced to walk past the numerous store employees all gathered in the front. Many large stores have this format, but one might also argue that is driven also by a second principle: commerce. The interaction between the store and the customers takes on a natural flow, as customers wander the story they pick up items and place them in their carts. When they leave, it is natural to have the checkout near the exit. If an older person or a pregnant woman needs help putting their groceries in their car, the staff can easily follow them out of the store without having to stray too far from their station. Certain items are highlighted at the ends of isles with big displays and sale signs, all to encourage people to buy (an interaction). To complete your shopping you are also forced to walk through the entire store. Unlike in Amazon, there is no isle consisting of the most popular common items, with flour, milk, pasta, meat, and vegetables all in one isle so that one may quickly grab what one needs to make a meal. There is no search engine. The shopping experience is less precise, but that's ironically one of the ideas Amazon has tried to implement in it's own organization. Walking through the store, you may see something on sale that you didn't realize you needed—or something that looks good yet wasn't one your list. There is an element of serendipity. In the self-service model, the products advertise and sell themselves, getting customers to walk through the store is an essential part of the commerce organization principle. Andronico's, being a high-end super market places it's alcohol and wine section right before the checkout in beautiful displays so that people might be tempted to make an expensive purchase. One final organizing principle (though certainly there are many more) behind Andronico's is storage. It is maintenance and an organizational activity. Refrigerated things must be refrigerated or frozen so they don't spoil, and logically they should go together. There would be no sense in paying for non-refrigerated things to be refrigerated! Similarly, fruit and vegetables are placed together because they have to be more actively monitored, misted, and rotated than say the pasta isle. Organic fruits cannot touch conventional fruits or they would lose their organic certification. Expiration dates on certain items must be monitored. Each specific food resource has its requirements. The nature of the resources Andronico's has to organize dictates much of their organization principles.

Amazon also has to deal with the issue of storage. It's model has to equate for both the storage of the electronic data from the website and the management of goods in warehouses located around the country for ease of shipment—though, that is a little beyond the scope of this assignment. However, the information resources the directory page relies on have to be managed to be sure that all the links work, and that information must be structured in a way to make navigating the virtual store easy. Like in Andronico's, the end goal is the same—to navigate customers through the store so that they will arrive at the checkout with everything they wanted and more. Since Amazon has a much larger store inventory than Andrinico's the task of helping customers navigate through the store is essential. At the top of the page in great prominence is a search bar. To create other ways to discover items—perhaps in a more serendipitous fashion—there are over a hundred links arranged into categories. The categories contain links that are often categories themselves—but sometimes specifically tailored toward a particular product or service. Since another organizing principle is also commerce, the links that are displayed are narrowly tailored to Amazon's sales goals. Golf gets it's own category, but Frisbee doesn't, and there is a unique link for each of the different types of Kindle. Personalization is another big organizing principle that fosters further interaction with the customer and further points of sale. There is a section marked "Your Account" that contains resources specific to you, and at the bottom of the page is shown your recent history of items you've previously looked at, as well as personalized recommendations based on things you've bought previously. Since there is no physical element of "wandering," all of this gives the user options for exploring products—they can search for something specific, browse through categories, or view recommendations. This illustrates an interesting way digital organization systems can implement abstract organizational principles from more traditional physical ones.

While there is much to contrast between the organizational principles of Amazon and Andronico’s, they share many commonalities. On a broader level their organizational principles are roughly the same: selecting, organizing, interacting, and maintaining. The stores exist to be stores and to drive sales and provide users with a good experience so they keep coming back.