shopping vs. buying

Amazon and Walmart: Are the trade-offs we make to shop there worth it? - Vox

What you do with Amazon is actually not shopping; it’s buying. Largely, it’s a very transactional relationship that people have with it. Every so often, there’s an Amazon dress or Amazon whatever, but usually, you’re being sent to the site for some very specific reason. You’re transacting, you’re fulfilling some desire or need. But the idea that you’re browsing or enjoying yourself or window shopping or getting some kind of entertainment value is something they’ve been terrible at. And they’ve tried for years. They’re best at selling stuff that lends itself to transactions and not shopping.

this is a great observation, and i wonder how we could be shifting our website to encourage more shopping and not just buying. or maybe that’s a fool’s errand, we should just streamline the buying as much as possible and focus our time and energy on our in-store experience.