A Look at Digital Buttons: Amazon Dash

Below is the first piece in TheVerge on 'Buttons', which I loosely define as simple as possible interfaces to otherwise complex processes.    Probably the best known is the Amazon Dash. I remember discussing it with folks from Amazon at our innovation center not long after they started selling things other than books online.   Not claiming we got the idea first,  but we certainly had discussed having a re-order button for detergent on a washing machine long before.  After that we got a beta version, and I have been using it ever since in my Smart Home.  Later we talked about having a 'button' on a process model to measure when things were done.  Or to use to vote or bid on something.  Using one of Amazon's proto-buttons. Which you can probably get cheap now.  But that never happened.  Still much like the button as a kind of IOT simple-as-possible interface.  Let me know if you want to talk that.  Nice piece below, and more upcoming I will comment on.

The Amazon Dash button was a physical interface to digital shopping
Button of the Month: Amazon Dash button    By Chaim Gartenberg   @cgartenberg

In today’s digital age, it can sometimes feel like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives devices. Button of the Month is a column that looks at some of these buttons and switches on devices both old and new to appreciate how we interact with our devices on a physical, tactile level.

Shopping on Amazon is a vastly digital experience. Until the last few years, there hasn’t been a physical way to go and buy things from Amazon. For the overwhelming majority of Amazon purchases, there’s still no checkout lane, no aisles to browse, no physical interactions at all — famously, the company’s “One Click” software removes nearly all barriers between wanting something and buying it.

Amazon’s now-defunct Dash buttons — small, Wi-Fi connected pods with a single button on them that would reorder a specific product — were meant to change that when they were introduced in 2015. They offered a physical manifestation of that traditional Amazon experience: buy what you need with just one click. ....."

Amazon Go Continues to Expand: NYC Next

Will check free start to become the standard?   Other retailers cannot ignore this.  Major ones are already testing it.  Implications for store behavior when money or credit cards don't have to be used?  Will this create a new kind of impulse buying?

Amazon Go checkout-free stores set to arrive in New York City  in DigitalTrends
Amazon’s cashier-less checkout-free stores, known as Amazon Go, are starting to expand beyond Seattle. It was previously announced that the company planned to open two new stores in Chicago and San Francisco. Now, the company is gearing up to take on the Big Apple as CNN has confirmed that Amazon plans to open Amazon Go stores in New York City.

Amazon’s job board has several listings for various retail and management positions at an upcoming Amazon Go store in New York. A spokesperson confirmed that the company is planning on opening a Go store in New York, but did not give any details regarding which borough it would be in or when the store would open.  ... " 

Snickers Data Mined for Impulse Targets

In Digiday:  Snickers mines behavioral data to find 'windows of impulsivity'.  .... Ad targeting is moving into a new area: moods. Snickers maker Mars is mining behavioral data to pinpoint people at their weakest moments for snacking: being happy, bored or even stressed. ... " 

Emergence of the Buy Button

In Adage: Increased use of the 'buy button'.   Impulse like buying online   ... " ... While Smaller Retailers Jump on New Tech, Bigger Players Take Wait-and-See Approach ... "

Binge Buying and Clumpiness

I recall looking at measures of 'clumpiness' in market basket analysis.  The power of the clump?

Are Your Customers ‘Clumpy’? What Binge-buying Means for Marketers
It’s no secret that many consumers now binge-buy online. But new research by Wharton’s Eric Bradlow shows how marketers can track that behavior to effectively target these profitable  ... "  an   Interview  " .... based on a research paper titled “New Measures of Clumpiness for Incidence Data,” which he co-authored with Yao Zhang, an associate at Credit Suisse, and Dylan Small, a Wharton statistics professor. ... "   

Mobile Apps and in-store Impulse Buys

Time in store is the most influential driver for sales.   Well known.  Now can a mobile App keep them in the store longer? And is that extra time also increase buying?

Are mobile apps the key to driving in-store impulse sales?
Not so surprisingly, a university study finds impulse shopping notably increases the longer a customer is in a store. A newsier revelation is that mobile apps may be the way to drive many unplanned purchases.

The authors claim this is the first study to examine changes in impulse shopping as the shopping trip unfolds. About 400 customers carrying handheld scanners at two grocery stores were examined. ....  "

Comments are very thoghtful, see especially Herb Sorensen's thoughts, he has done much work in understanding the science of the shopper and shopping trip.

Google Testing Buy Button

In Retailwire:  Is this the ultimate challenge for retail?  Everyone searches.    So making the buy as easy as possible is powerful.  Embedded discussion is useful.

" ... In what is being seen as a potential challenge to Amazon but perhaps a conflict for retailers, Google plans to begin testing "buy buttons" in coming weeks.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that buttons will appear beside paid search results on mobile in the "Shop on Google" section. Clicking a button takes the shopper to another Google product page, where orders can be customized (sizes, colors, etc.) and shipping options explored before completing the purchase. Google will also store credit card information to let the shopper repeat the process again at another time. ... " 

Facebook Buy Button Test

In Retailwire:  Will people buy directly on Facebook?  Possibly, but I have never see FB as a commercial context.   A test is underway.  " ... Users on desktop or mobile will be able to click the Buy call-to-action button on ads and Page posts to purchase a product directly from a business without leaving Facebook. How appealing do you expect Facebook's "Buy" button will be to Facebook users?  ... " 

Mobile Promotions and Impulse Buys

In Progressive Grocer: Perhaps a non intuitive linkage?  " ... Research published by the American Marketing Association shows that shoppers make more unplanned purchases when prompted by promotions through a mobile device. "Retailers have the ability to target their promotions in ways that weren't possible before, and our study provides a road map for mobile marketers who seek to increase unplanned spending in stores," said study co-author Sam Hui, a professor at the New York University Stern School of Business. ... "