I have infrequently used two online shopping services, both of which are very good. One (call it Site A) bought the other (call it Site B) some time ago, but has kept them up as separate operations, at least for consumer-facing aspects.

One interesting result is that this division seems to include the mailouts – you get one from Site A, and then shortly afterwards one from Site B. Sometimes the other way around, but usually within an hour of each other. The announcements are usually similar – discounts and hot specials, product recalls, and the like. Really, as one might expect, given they are probably working off the same raw data and inventory. (more…)