Google checkout — threat to amazon?
I was reading this story by Rafe Needleman on CNET about how Google’s new checkout service is a huge threat to Amazon:
The biggest thing the online superstore has going for it is convenience. Once you buy an item on Amazon, buying the next one is a one-click affair. But go to another store, and you’ve got to enter your credit card info all over again. Amazon wins for convenience…
Really? I’m no analyst but I have to disagree. The biggest thing Amazon has going for it is its customer service. I’ve ordered books from many of its competitors and the reason I keep going back to Amazon is that the books/cds/other stuff arrive consistently in line with my expectations. That’s it. If they had screwed up one of my first purchases, they wouldn’t have my business today.
This ease of checkout stuff is way down on my list. I’ve never used 1-Click and I don’t intend to start either. The reason I don’t use 1-Click is because I like filling out the payment details each and every time. I’ve got a number of different addresses, a couple credit cards and sometimes (although rarely) I send gifts. Since I would have to go through and check these things over anyway, I might as well just start from scratch.
Google will do pretty well with Checkout. But Amazon killer? I just don’t believe it.
Technorati Tags: googlecheckout, amazon, e-commerce
Brian, I agree: quick checkout is overrated. When people go to buy things online, they’re thinking of what they’re about to buy, which they want, not of the process required to check out. Except for those people who have bought so much stuff online that by now they’ve become sick of the checkout process. Perhaps Rafe Needleman is one of those, and there is a similar mention by Joe at Techdirt, at http://techdirt.com/articles/20060629/0947202.shtml . I don’t think such people are representative of online shoppers in general, and although they do buy more than others, they’re not part of the Long Tail of the market.
I return to Amazon for the same reason as you, but also because of something related to 1-Click. Like you, I want to choose where something is shipped and which card it is billed to… but if I’ve typed these in once, Amazon remembers them. It takes longer than a single click, but I don’t have to whip my wallet out.