Amazon.com launched its m-commerce site, Amazon Anywhere, in 2001, far ahead of what is only now a burgeoning mobile marketplace. Today it once again is pushing the m-commerce envelope with the launch of Amazon TextBuyIt, a new way of mobile shopping that bypasses its m-commerce site, providing mobile consumers an entirely different path to merchandise.
Amazon.com customers who have set up accounts via the e-commerce site can find a product they are looking for and complete a purchase using TextBuyIt. A customer sends a text message to the telecommunications short code “AMAZON” (262966) with the name of the product, search term, UPC bar code number, or ISBN code for books, and within seconds Amazon.com replies with the product or products that match the search, along with prices. If she wishes to receive further information about a product, the customer sends a reply message with the single-digit number next to the desired product followed by the letter “d” for “details.” Product information, including customer ratings, are returned within seconds.
To buy an item, a customer replies to the text message by entering only the single-digit number next to the item she wants. The customer then will receive a brief phone call from Amazon.com with the final details of her order, asking her to confirm or cancel the purchase. When she purchases something for the first time using TextBuyIt, she will be asked for her e-mail address and the shipping Zip code she uses for her Amazon.com account. With this information, Amazon.com uses the customer’s default settings for payment method, shipping address and shipping speed to complete the first purchase and future purchases from the same phone.
In the realm of m-commerce, what is most significant about this new offering is that it does not require consumers to have Internet access on their mobile phones. Use of text messaging is far more common than use of the mobile web. This year 46 million U.S. mobile phone users, or 19%, will access the Internet from their phones, while 166 million, or 69%, will send text messages, JupiterResearch projects. Thus, adding the text message component to its m-commerce offerings means Amazon.com has vastly increased the number of consumers who can access its merchandise via mobile phones.
“With TextBuyIt, if you’re walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the artist you just saw, or if you’re at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your mobile device, send a text message to Amazon, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way,” says Howard Gefen, director of Amazon mobile payments.
Amazon.com is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
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