Today I got e-mail from Amazon. I’m a loyal Amazon customer so I don’t mind their mails too much. The subject line said:

“Introducing Endless.com: A New Way to Shop from Amazon.com”

I wondered what this was. I love how Amazon is constantly experimenting with their model. They’ve done store-within-a-store models before and are always tweaking. I admit, I don’t really know the structure behind this new offering, but one thing struck me, this might just be a new brand. Simple as that.

A couple of years ago I started buying my shoes online. It was hard to make the leap as I worried about having to return the shoes if they didn’t fit quite right. But I took the leap anyway as the only thing I hate more than shoe shopping is getting a haircut. (Pardon me for a second, I went to register ehaircut.com but it was taken. ;) ) Online shoes is attractive because the sizes are basically standardized, online can have a way better selection than any physical shoe store, and shipping can be cheap cause shoes are small.

And then it occured to me, I probably wouldn’t buy my shoes from Sears. Amazon is basically the new Sears. Or even more accurately… the new Sears and Roebuck Catalog – a book on which is of course available on Amazon. (Oh Roebuck… what happened to you???)

The appeal of the all-in-one catalog, department store, website, etc. makes perfect sense to me. But so does the natural ebb and flow towards more specialized retailers with brands that aren’t big umbrellas. Do I really want to buy my shoes from a store where I can buy books and lawnmowers?