REDEFINING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Amazon recently revealed their latest shift to the consumer paradigm. Amazon Dash allows consumers to order household items such as detergent, razors, mac & cheese, etc. with the click of a button on a designated device that is linked to a consumer’s Amazon Prime account. Simply put, this strategy is money-making-genius.
I was a high school student working retail during the early 2000's, about the time debit cards were starting to become popular. I distinctly remember asking patrons of our store ‘credit or debit’ and seeing their face contort in confusion. ‘What is debit?’ and ‘Why wouldn’t I just write a check?’ A few years later debit became the preferred payment method for most customers. It took time for consumers to get past the initial angst of being further removed from their physical money than they were accustomed to, but once they became comfortable with the payment methodology and corresponding online-banking, things changed forever.
It has been proven that people spend less when they pay with physical bills and coins. The tangible aspect of physical money makes it more difficult to part with it. If your ‘money’ is just a number in an online account you monitor every now and then, you are more apt to spend it freely as there is no sense that something is being taken from you. Amazon Dash takes this methodology to a whole new level.
With Dash, Amazon has separated consumers even further from their physical money than debit cards or even a consumer’s Amazon account with all of their pre-stored purchasing information. Now, all you have to do is push a button to buy. It’s so easy that even a toddler could do it (which coincidentally, is the likely reason Dash only accepts and records the first button push). Sure, Amazon’s apps will provide consumers order information and the opportunity to cancel their order (whenever consumers actually get to their phones), but with no immediate view of the transaction or a final order receipt, consumers are likely to BUY-BUY-BUY!
I have partaken personally in Amazon’s discounted subscription program, and I love it. A few less things to think about each month, and a few less trips to the store is great. These however, are easy to budget for expenses. Spontaneous purchasing in the Dash format is a whole new playing field consumers will have to learn to naviagate, and once other companies begin licensing the technology in their products there will be no turning back. If you thought your ‘surprise’ credit card bills were bad in the past, get ready, they are about to get a whole lot worse.
Photo Credit: Amazon
I was a high school student working retail during the early 2000's, about the time debit cards were starting to become popular. I distinctly remember asking patrons of our store ‘credit or debit’ and seeing their face contort in confusion. ‘What is debit?’ and ‘Why wouldn’t I just write a check?’ A few years later debit became the preferred payment method for most customers. It took time for consumers to get past the initial angst of being further removed from their physical money than they were accustomed to, but once they became comfortable with the payment methodology and corresponding online-banking, things changed forever.
It has been proven that people spend less when they pay with physical bills and coins. The tangible aspect of physical money makes it more difficult to part with it. If your ‘money’ is just a number in an online account you monitor every now and then, you are more apt to spend it freely as there is no sense that something is being taken from you. Amazon Dash takes this methodology to a whole new level.
With Dash, Amazon has separated consumers even further from their physical money than debit cards or even a consumer’s Amazon account with all of their pre-stored purchasing information. Now, all you have to do is push a button to buy. It’s so easy that even a toddler could do it (which coincidentally, is the likely reason Dash only accepts and records the first button push). Sure, Amazon’s apps will provide consumers order information and the opportunity to cancel their order (whenever consumers actually get to their phones), but with no immediate view of the transaction or a final order receipt, consumers are likely to BUY-BUY-BUY!
I have partaken personally in Amazon’s discounted subscription program, and I love it. A few less things to think about each month, and a few less trips to the store is great. These however, are easy to budget for expenses. Spontaneous purchasing in the Dash format is a whole new playing field consumers will have to learn to naviagate, and once other companies begin licensing the technology in their products there will be no turning back. If you thought your ‘surprise’ credit card bills were bad in the past, get ready, they are about to get a whole lot worse.
Photo Credit: Amazon