This seems... Very out of touch.<p>The author makes the argument that all websites look the same because of Google, but never really gives a reason why... (besides name dropping "PageRank" once)<p>Then it goes on to say that same experience (or more accurately the lack of a "unique" experience) is why they have poor conversion rates.<p>Then it blames the website for causing an increased spending in customer service, pointing to this as the reason why they think brands will start "closing" their websites.<p>But every step of the way I think the author is way off. Websites don't look like that because Google's "PageRank" is forcing them to somehow, and that look and feel isn't the reason why conversions are bad.<p>In my opinion, websites look like that because a useful website follows some guidelines, and that may make it look "bland" but at least I know to look for my "cart" at the top-right of the page (or even have the concept of a "cart").<p>Also, I think the reason why conversions are bad is because retailers looked at the web for years as an afterthought. The reason only a handful of large companies are doing well on the web is because so few treated it as well as they treat their storefronts. You can't treat the internet as an afterthought, you need to build your business around it. Amazon, eBay, Overstock, and others have done this, they spent the time, money, and engineering to do it right, and do it fast. Someone like Nike throws something slow and cumbersome to use together as an afterthought just to have one.<p>If websites start closing, it's not because of the "big bad google", it's because ecommerce is hard, just like how some online-only or online-first companies are now finding out how hard brick-and-mortar really is.