Info 202 F12

The most obvious organizing principle visible in Andronico's store layout is organization by related items. Items are put in the same aisle because they share major traits or are commonly identified together. For example, a little more than half of aisle 9 is composed of long-lasting items such as canned goods and spices, and part of isle 4 contains bath supplies, shampoos, toiletries, and other body care products. Andronico's also lays out items in certain ways that are convenient for the customers. The store has a separate section for prepared foods, and the bags of ice are right next to the exit, as it is among the heaviest items in the store, not to mention that it needs to be continuously refrigerated. On a similar note as the bags of ice, some organizing principles of the store are based on physical limitations of the items themselves. All the items that need refrigeration, like dairy products, frozen foods, produce, and meats are each grouped together so that they can all be stored in large refrigerated machines. Additionally, another principle can be inferred from the placement of the meats at the back of the store; some items are placed to enhance the appearance of the store. This can also be seen in the placement of items like candy, magazine, flowers, and gift cards at the front of the store.
Amazon's directory, in contrast, is much more systematic and focused on user experience. One prominent principle is organization based on ease of use; At the top-most level, the listings start from digital categories at the very left, and gradually becomes less technology-oriented toward the right side of the list. The top-level category list is also easy to use, because despite the wide breadth of items, the overall number of categories is countable and intuitive. To make the shopping process more efficient, Amazon also uses the principle that the most frequent user interactions should be the most visible. This is evident when clicking into any of the categories from the top-level; the top links in the browse bar are deals, trends, and other “hot” links that are popular among customers. The principle of grouping together items that are frequently bought together is also clear in Amazon’s organization system, but in a very different form than in that of Andronico’s. They have explicit sections that display items that customers often view and buy with a certain item on that item’s page. They also include links to related categories in the browse bar. Amazon also includes categories based on seasonal events, such as the Back To School section currently displayed.
The differences between the principles of organization of Andronico’s and Amazon come from the difference in what each system is organizing; Andronico’s organizes physical resources, namely their store items, within a physical store, whereas Amazon organizes digitized descriptions of physical items in a digital website. This means that Andronico’s principles are much more motivated by physical limitations than those of Amazon. For example, both uses frequently bought together items as an organizing principle; however, Andronico’s motivation is saving customers walking time, while Amazon’s motivation is encouraging the customers to add more items to their carts. Another physical limitation that hinders Andronico’s but not Amazon is the store itself. Andronico’s must organize their items into the layout of the store in a cost and space efficient way. This prevents certain items from being close to each other, when such a layout would be beneficial to the store and the customers. Amazon does not have this problem; listing items and categories next to each other takes no more than a few strokes of the keyboard. In addition, a physical store is basically static, which means that Andronico’s cannot make frequent changes to their layout or implement new organizing schemes. Amazon’s store, on the other hand, is completely dynamic; new organizing principles can be implemented with little cost. In addition, their principles can be implemented dynamically, as seen in their moving frequently-used features to the top of the browse bar. Working with digital resources means that Amazon can take advantage of the multitude of functionalities available in web applications to create an efficient online shopping experience. Andronico’s must constrain its organizing principles to the limitations of its physical resources, while reducing the amount of effort required in their user interactions.
Despite these differences, both stores have similar ideals at the core of their organizing principles. Take the principle of grouping related items; whether similar items are placed in the same counters or displayed on the same web page, the intention is to increase sales by helping customers get to what they want quickly and effortlessly. Andronico’s separate section for prepared foods and Amazon’s displaying deals and trends at the top of their browse bar also share the common ideal that items in popular demand need to be the most accessible in the organizing system.