Press Release Summary: Amazon is so far the only company to discover a new way to reach its customers by using text messages. This service, Text BuyIt, allows shoppers to browse prices of products on Amazon through their cell phones.
Press Release Body: Text Messages, A New Way of Shopping? By ConnectThru.com
Amazon is so far the only company to discover a new way to reach its customers by using text messages. This service, Text BuyIt, allows shoppers to browse prices of products on Amazon through their cell phones. Shoppers utilize TextBuyIt by sending a text message to "AMAZON" (# 262966). The sent message must contain the name of the product and/or a description of a UPC or ISBN number. In response, Amazon will send a reply with purchasing options for the items. Shoppers have the ability to purchase the item and confirm the order right from their phones. There is also a help feature that shoppers can access by texting "H" to Amazon. According to a statement made the director of Amazon's Mobile Payments, Howard Gefen: ". any Amazon.com customer can now use any mobile device to shop and buy from Amazon.com, at anytime, anywhere they are" by using text messages. This service seems to promise accessibility. People can communicate with the website straight from a cell phone. But how useful is this form of shopping? How practical is the TextBuyIt service? Writer Thomas Claburn of Information Week, raises a very interesting point in his article "Amazon Intros Purchasing Via Text Message With \'TextBuyIt\'." Claburn discusses a counterpoint to Amazon's new shopping option. Many people are constantly hooked up to the Internet. "Urban technophiles who are seldom more than a stone\'s throw from an Internet-connected computer may not see the need for such a service" (Claburn). Many people have Internet capabilities directly connected to their cellphones. They can visit Amazon's websites from their hand held devices. Also, Claburn makes a good point in noting that people are seldom away from their computers. Many people have laptops and computers in their homes; even more people have computers that they use in their offices every day. Even many vacation spots offer Internet access features. The only time during the day when people are away from their computers is when they are driving or commuting. Is the TextBuyIt plan really that practical? There is very little time that people actually do spend away from their computers. Yet, Amazon is ampt to observe that one of the other times people are disconnected from the Web-besides driving, showering, or working out-is shopping. As Calburn and Amazon observe "many of those with more infrequent access to computers no doubt will appreciate the ability to search for items and buy them while on the go." TextBuyIt is perfect for people who still shop in stores and who have also actively resisted Internet cell phone technology. If these consumers see a product that feels like an impulse buy, they can check the price against items listed on Amazon. The TextBuyIt service will work best for impulse shopping. Shoppers see something. They want it. They buy it. End of story. With today's technological fervor, many consumers typically check the price of a product on a computer before ever making a journey to buy the product in a store. At the very least, these shoppers will query the product on the Internet to find a local seller-that is even if they decide to leave their house. The 2007 holiday shopping season proved how few people are actually shopping in stores. It seems that TextBuyIt is a service that could potentially scoop up customers that prefer actively shopping in stores. If other companies catch on to this trend, will TextBuyIt turn all stores into a series of show rooms, or worse, Ikea? Is the future of shopping a virtual reality where instead of department stores we will visit websites like Amazon or Overstock?
2022
