The Future of Shopping

Late last week Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) released its application for iPhone and iPod touch. The Amazon app offers an easy way for users to search and browse for products offered by Amazon and thousands of retailers like Target and Macy's, access Amazon's popular shopping features such as Customer Reviews, and purchase using 1-Click Shopping and Amazon Prime.

"We designed the Amazon app to be a quick and easy way for iPhone and iPod touch users to shop, browse, and buy with Amazon.com," said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile.

I just downloaded the application and I am very impressed. I am not a huge Amazon shopper throughout the year but during the holiday season I spend a lot of time on the site. This new mobile app is very cool and will dramatically change the way I shop in the future. The reason I say this is because of a new "experimental" feature they have included called Amazon Remembers. If you haven't read about it already, I'll give you a quick overview:

Let's say you're out and about with your kids (at the store, at a friends house, etc.) - your child says "Daddy, I really want this game/book/toy/stuffed animal/DVD/CD." Historically you can:

A) Try to remember the product or
B) Try to find a piece of paper & pen to write it down

then
c) Get online and try to find the product

Now, with Amazon Mobile, you can simply take a picture of the product and it will automatically upload to Amazon and they will try to find the product for you in their catalog. Now keep in mind. you are not scanning the bar code or typing the name of the product into the application - you are simply taking a picture. I tried it with two products - an Austin Powers DVD and a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Book. Both times it worked perfectly.


Here is the screen shot from the app. You can see both products were recognized and then you can see different buying options just as you would from the desktop Amazon.com experience. If you have an Amazon account you can use 1-click to buy.

Dead simple and super cool. I can think of so many different ways I could use this feature for future buying decisions. This is the future of shopping and I think the old school bricks and mortar guys are in even bigger trouble than they already were. Amazon continues to innovate and leave the competition in the dust. If you have an iPhone and like to shop at Amazon, go get the app and try it out for yourself - by the way, it's free.

Update: I'm not the only one who believes in Amazon.com - just today, BusinessWeek wrote an article on them titled Amazon: Armed to Beat the Recession - check it out here.