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Amazon has been subsidizing it in the hope that people would buy stuff on a moment's whim any time of the day. "Alexa, order me a package of keebler elf cookies

Amazon has been subsidizing it in the hope that people would buy stuff on a moment's whim any time of the day. "Alexa, order me a package of keebler elf cookies" or whatever. I'm sure there's more to it - some kind of useful data collection or whatever, but that was their main stated goal. It's been a pretty huge money sink because most people turn out to be more like you. If I were your friends I'd be polishing that resume just in case.

ghaff 4y ago
You sort of wonder what happened. I assume the thinking was along the lines of: If you had a personal human assistant at home you'd probably delegate a lot of things to them. (Not sure how true this is in general, but let's go with that.) But Alexa would have to be a lot more intelligent and plugged into a lot more systems before it could do tasks of any complexity--especially tasks with financial consequences. There's maybe half a dozen things I use Alexa for and none of them involve giving Amazon a nickel.
mabbo 4y ago
> Amazon has been subsidizing it in the hope that people would buy stuff on a moment's whim any time of the day. I think the deeper issue is that when Amazon started the product (I heard rumours of it circa 2014 or so?) Amazon was a trusted retailed. Stuff was cheap and generally good. Now it's a scummy marketplace filled with fakes and frauds. I'm not buying anything off it until I've deeply reviewed what I'm about to buy.
- krasin 4y ago
  > I'm not buying anything off it until I've deeply reviewed what I'm about to buy. <...> and even then you might get a fake from due to commingled inventory. Even for books ([1], [2], [3]). 1. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6920552393138962432/ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6920552... 2. https://twitter.com/burkov/status/1369096357252849664 https://twitter.com/burkov/status/1369096357252849664 3. https://hairysun.com/amazons-book-piracy-problem.html https://hairysun.com/amazons-book-piracy-problem.html
paxys 4y ago
I will never understand how strategists at trillion dollar companies like Amazon can get it so wrong. They poured a massive amount of money into dash buttons and gave away millions of them, thinking that if people had a "Tide" branded button next to their washing machine they'd press it on a whim and spend a fortune on detergent pods. The concept might sound great on an MBA slide deck but in reality people don't behave like that.
- 8note 4y ago
  I don't know if I'd spend a fortune on detergent pod with a button, but I'd definitely use it to order more detergent and thus end up buying it from Amazon instead of the grocery store. Same with toilet paper and whatever infrequent buys that you want when you notice something is running low
  - paxys 4y ago
    Except you don't know what exactly you are buying, what the price is, whether the purchase went through, when it will reach you... What Amazon quickly found out is that even if the button is within reach people will still prefer to take an extra 10 seconds to pull out the phone from their pocket and tap the Amazon app instead.
    - Rychard 4y ago
      When doing the initial activation of the Dash button, you had to choose the item that it would purchase from a list of items belonging to the corresponding brand on the button itself. The available choices were fairly diverse, differing in style/quantity/price/etc. When you pressed the button, you know what you were buying and how much it cost, because you're the one who set it up. As for how to determine whether the purchase went through or not, an LED would light/flash on the button to indicate success/failure, and you'd receive an email with more detailed information such as the item being purchased, its cost, and the address where it will be shipped. If the button press was a mistake, you could simply cancel the order.
      - 4y ago
limitedsupply 4y ago
The thing that always seemed really strange to me is that I don’t understand how to order anything without looking at the details, comparing prices, checking alternatives, etc. Even with food that I use regularly - do I just say “order almond milk”? I can’t remember the brand… do I need to specify the size? Do I need to double check when is the earliest delivery? Do other people order just “bread” or “light bulbs” or “toilet tissue”?

ghaff 4y ago

You sort of wonder what happened. I assume the thinking was along the lines of: If you had a personal human assistant at home you'd probably delegate a lot of things to them. (Not sure how true this is in general, but let's go with that.) But Alexa would have to be a lot more intelligent and plugged into a lot more systems before it could do tasks of any complexity--especially tasks with financial consequences. There's maybe half a dozen things I use Alexa for and none of them involve giving Amazon a nickel.

mabbo 4y ago

> Amazon has been subsidizing it in the hope that people would buy stuff on a moment's whim any time of the day. I think the deeper issue is that when Amazon started the product (I heard rumours of it circa 2014 or so?) Amazon was a trusted retailed. Stuff was cheap and generally good. Now it's a scummy marketplace filled with fakes and frauds. I'm not buying anything off it until I've deeply reviewed what I'm about to buy.

krasin 4y ago
> I'm not buying anything off it until I've deeply reviewed what I'm about to buy. <...> and even then you might get a fake from due to commingled inventory. Even for books ([1], [2], [3]). 1. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6920552393138962432/ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6920552... 2. https://twitter.com/burkov/status/1369096357252849664 https://twitter.com/burkov/status/1369096357252849664 3. https://hairysun.com/amazons-book-piracy-problem.html https://hairysun.com/amazons-book-piracy-problem.html

paxys 4y ago

I will never understand how strategists at trillion dollar companies like Amazon can get it so wrong. They poured a massive amount of money into dash buttons and gave away millions of them, thinking that if people had a "Tide" branded button next to their washing machine they'd press it on a whim and spend a fortune on detergent pods. The concept might sound great on an MBA slide deck but in reality people don't behave like that.

8note 4y ago
I don't know if I'd spend a fortune on detergent pod with a button, but I'd definitely use it to order more detergent and thus end up buying it from Amazon instead of the grocery store. Same with toilet paper and whatever infrequent buys that you want when you notice something is running low
- paxys 4y ago
  Except you don't know what exactly you are buying, what the price is, whether the purchase went through, when it will reach you... What Amazon quickly found out is that even if the button is within reach people will still prefer to take an extra 10 seconds to pull out the phone from their pocket and tap the Amazon app instead.
  - Rychard 4y ago
    When doing the initial activation of the Dash button, you had to choose the item that it would purchase from a list of items belonging to the corresponding brand on the button itself. The available choices were fairly diverse, differing in style/quantity/price/etc. When you pressed the button, you know what you were buying and how much it cost, because you're the one who set it up. As for how to determine whether the purchase went through or not, an LED would light/flash on the button to indicate success/failure, and you'd receive an email with more detailed information such as the item being purchased, its cost, and the address where it will be shipped. If the button press was a mistake, you could simply cancel the order.
    - 4y ago

limitedsupply 4y ago

The thing that always seemed really strange to me is that I don’t understand how to order anything without looking at the details, comparing prices, checking alternatives, etc. Even with food that I use regularly - do I just say “order almond milk”? I can’t remember the brand… do I need to specify the size? Do I need to double check when is the earliest delivery? Do other people order just “bread” or “light bulbs” or “toilet tissue”?