Amazon introduces text-based mobile shopping

by Stevie Smith - Apr 3 2008, 13:01

Moving to increase the convenience of mobile shopping yet further, Internet retailer Amazon has unveiled a new service that allows customers to use text messages to locate and purchase products sold on Amazon’s store pages.

The aptly named TextBuyIt service will be integrated into Amazon’s existing mobile portfolio (including its mobile site and mobile iPhone site) enabling customers to peruse products, run price comparisons, and buy directly wherever they are, on any mobile device, through either a text message or their equipped mobile Web browser.

“It’s incredibly simple and convenient,” enthused Howard Gefen, Director of Amazon Mobile Payments, “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.”

According to Amazon, customers will require less than a minute to locate a specific product and purchase it using TextBuyIt. Users need only dispatch a text message containing the name of the product(s) they would like, search terms, or a UPC/ISPN code to “AMAZON” (262966) and Amazon will process the text and swiftly reply with the appropriate product(s) and prices.

Then, if a customer should wish to buy a specific product, they only have to reply with the unique single digit number assigned to it, after which Amazon will then call them directly for the processing of final details and purchase confirmation.

TextBuyIt arrives as the latest mobile experience on offer from Amazon, following the mobile integration and optimisation of other normally PC-based Amazon features such as 1-Click, Prime, Customer Reviews, Wish Lists, Search, and stored payment and shipment options.

Around the Web