Amazon will celebrate its 15th anniversary in Spain with a special offers event open to all customers, running from September 1st to 3rd. Throughout the month, the marketplace giant will also be hiding Golden Tickets, each worth €100, in orders that select Amazon Locker as the pickup point. Ruth Díaz, Managing Director of Amazon for Spain and Portugal, says: “Fifteen years ago, Spanish customers opened their homes to us, and since then, we have worked every day to make their lives easier. We want to thank them for their trust and celebrate with them with offers on their favorite products and many surprises, while we continue to look to the future with the same enthusiasm as day one, innovating and investing to be ever closer to them and ensure they have everything they need.” This promotion may be extremely attractive to consumers, but let's not kid ourselves, its main objective is to boost marketplace sales and encourage the use of Amazon Lockers. This initiative may be extremely appealing to consumers, but let's not kid ourselves, its main objective is to boost marketplace sales and promote the use of Amazon Lockers. All of Amazon's Offers for its 15th Anniversary in Spain From September 1st to 3rd, Amazon will be offering discounts, coupons, gift cards, and other surprises to its customers to commemorate 15 years since its arrival in Spain in 2011. These are the promotions the marketplace giant has announced: - Offers on products from major brands such as Cecotec, Samsung, HP, Oral-B, Gillette, ghd, etc. - Save €15 on eligible products with purchases of €75 or more. - Spin & Win: a roulette wheel in the Amazon app that can be spun once a day for a chance to win a €100 gift card through a prize draw. It's important to note that even if you land on the €100 space, this does not guarantee the prize. After answering a verification question to ensure participation, and once the event ends, the company will randomly select 200 winners who will receive the €100 Amazon credit in their account. In addition, throughout September, Amazon will be hiding hundreds of Golden Tickets worth €100 in packages sent for pickup at Amazon Lockers. Are there dark patterns among Amazon's offers? On August 26, the multi-million dollar settlement between Meta and the US Justice Department was announced, settling the case against the tech company for harming the health of minors through the use of dark patterns on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. These dark patterns are digital design techniques created to manipulate user behavior, and in addition to social media, they can also be used in other areas such as e-commerce. Given how recent the Meta trial in the United States is, and other open cases such as the European Commission's case against Meta for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook, we at this newsroom can't help but scrutinize every time we visit a website or encounter offers or actions that encourage purchases. In Amazon's case, it's understandable that the company would use a significant date like its anniversary to hold a sales event. Many brands do this, and there's nothing wrong with it... depending on how it's done. If we review the promotions announced by Amazon, the one that raises eyebrows is "Spin & Win." Firstly, because of its similarity to features used by more aggressive marketplaces that have been investigated for using dark patterns, such as Shein. And secondly, because its operation corresponds to a dark pattern based on deceptive gamification and the illusion of control. On the one hand, it creates a need for the customer to log into the app every day the offer lasts in order to participate in the roulette game. And, on the other hand, because the roulette itself isn't honest. If the user lands on the winning space, the interface generates a false sense of immediate victory. The user's psychology interprets this as winning the prize, not simply a ticket for a later drawing among thousands of people. An honest design would label the box as, for example, "Sweepstakes Entry," avoiding manipulating expectations to inflate app traffic. Finally, marketers, we recommend that before giving in to the impulse to "take advantage" of offers on an eCommerce site or marketplace, you consider whether you're truly buying out of necessity or motivated by the urgency of saving money, even if you don't need the product.