Be Afraid…Be Very Afraid

Posted on April 1, 2008

That is probably the attitude Amazon wants their storefront competitors to have after their announcement today.

They offered up a new service that lets shoppers compare prices and buy things straight from their cellphones.

The new service is called Amazon TextBuyIt, and it lets people text a product name, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that’s “Amazon” on the keypad) from anywhere their cellphones work — including from inside physical stores.

If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two choices by texting back the number “1″ or “2,” or they can ask for more by texting the letter “M.”

New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.

From there, the customer can check the order status on Amazon’s website.

Does this really fit the consumer’s approach to buying? Seems to me that if a shopper wants to compare prices, he would be better served, (and more likely) to do so from home. If the intent when you go out is to look at a product at Sears and then dial up Amazon, wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to price compare straight from the various websites?

I do see this getting some use with potential impulse purchases where the shopper isn’t really looking to buy but sees a product which seems to be of exceptional value. Being unsure whether it really is a deal, a quick call to Amazon gets the answer. But then the word impulse enters into the picture. Impulse buyers seem to find other reasons to buy immediately besides price. Off the cuff purchasers will probably talk themselves out of waiting several days to save an extra 10% at Amazon when they can carry their prize possession home today.

Extra sales are to be had for sure, but don’t look for many store closures because of it.