Amazon's Bezos wants a piece of your mind

The chief executive of Amazon.com is emailing customers to ask for feedback on a proposed new look for the e-tail giant. The new design, unveiled in June, would limit the number of store tabs that appear on any one page.

"Over the last few months, we've tested several new navigational systems for Amazon.com, looking for a way to make it easier for you to get around our store," Bezos wrote in his note to customers. "We think we've found a winner, but we wouldn't want to make such a change to how our store works without first consulting you to see what you thought."

Representatives of the Seattle-based e-tailer did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

The new look at Amazon comes as the company has quadrupled the number of store tabs on its site in the last 18 months, adding new shopping areas for kitchen goods, health and beauty products, and home furnishings this year alone. Although the company removed its Home Living tab on Tuesday, when its partner Living.com closed its doors, Amazon has stated in the past it has a willingness to continue to add products--and store tabs--for its customers.

The new look affects the navigation system used on the site. Although Amazon has explored the idea of eliminating its familiar store tabs entirely and going to more of a portal-like look, the new navigation system attempts to preserve the tabs.

But instead of displaying every store tab on every page on the site, the new look would limit the number of tabs to about eight. Every page would include a tab that linked to the company's home page and one that linked to a list of the company's stores. The other six tabs would link to the home page of the store a customer was browsing and to five other "featured" stores.

Bezos did not say when the company plans to debut the new navigation system on its site. "Please drop us a line telling us what you think," he said in his note.