Just this morning I noticed something new at Amazon.com. If you click through to these coffee pods or razor blades or dishwasher detergent you can subscribe to have them auto delivered at specific intervals. I suspect they will be rolling this out for a variety of “repetitive staples.”
Very smart retailing. Amazon seems to be on a roll lately. And this time Wall Street thinks so too.
Marcus Hauer
on 16 Jul 07They just don’t have a “Deliver Now” function, so when you run out of something they could ship it earlier. I experienced this recently and the problem is, you have to cancel your subscription and start the it again. Nevertheless it’s nice and they will probably fix this soon.
brad
on 16 Jul 07Yet another reason why I miss living in the United States. All you can get from amazon.ca is books, DVDs, CDs, videocassettes, and software. (Yes, amazon.com will ship some items to Canada but not all.)
Roy
on 16 Jul 07We have a screencast review of Amazon’s subscription service in action on our blog that was posted a few weeks back.
http://www.varien.com/blog/checking-out-amazons-subscription-service/
Roy Varien
Roy
on 16 Jul 07Link to Screencast.
Sorry.
Sean
on 16 Jul 07Does anybody else feel like this subscription model mentality is just a fad? Most stuff we buy are products we buy over and over again, that doesn’t mean I want to subscribe. It gives me a locked-in “something more I have to manage” feeling.
Avi Flax
on 16 Jul 07Sean, that all depends. For some people, this could provide the opposite experience: whew, one less thing I have to remember to do every 3 months! I can see the appeal, for certain consumables which a person/household really does want to purchase with that consistent long-term regularity.
Mark
on 16 Jul 07Interesting update on the home grocery delivery idea. With the potential to increase the number of local deliveries that FedEx or UPS have to make, given a service like this, I wonder if those companies will develop additional local delivery models, for example, pairing with grocery outlets who can serve as de facto distributed warehouses.
Benjy
on 16 Jul 07I remember thinking/discussing about how this type of ecommerce would one of the biggest benefits to online shopping 7-8 years ago—particularly for a store like drugstore.com, etc.
I guess the hardest part if accurately determining how often one goes through a can of shaving cream, bottle of diswasher detergant, etc.
One thing I wonder about, though, is how they deal with discontinuations, etc. It seems like every few months some toiletry product I use gets discontinued, reformulated, different scents (what happened to the Lime scent Edge shaving cream?), etc. Do they notify about these changes? Default to something different? Stop sending?
Sean
on 16 Jul 07Benjy, Possibly a queue…? Select 3 types of shaving cream and they’ll send you what’s available. I do agree that accurately determining how often you’ll need something is nearly impossible. You’ll either have too much or not enough.
Kenn Christ
on 16 Jul 07Drugstore.com offers something similar. My first impression was also that no, this wouldn’t work well because you can never predict exactly when you’ll need something. But upon further thought I realized that yes, I do buy some things at regular intervals (or try to, at least). Toothbrushes and Brita filters, to name two. I’d probably be a lot better about changing my water filters on time if I got one in the mail every two months.
Ben
on 16 Jul 07I hope you’re not ordering those coffee pods – what a waste of packaging. Spend an extra 30 seconds per coffee and save 200gm of waste per 10 pods. You can spend that time ‘keeping it real.
Anonymous Coward
on 16 Jul 07Ben, I hope you’re not commenting on a weblog – what a waste of electricity.
Rahul
on 16 Jul 07One of the most fascinating developments Amazon has introduced in the recent past is its application of concepts introduced by the Web onto the real world. “Subscribe”ing to a logistical process in a similar way to how you would subscribe to an RSS news feed on a website is really interesting thinking. I can’t wait for them to start solving more such logistical challenges in the future.
Ryan Norbauer
on 16 Jul 07I realized the other day that Amazon sells me just about everything I care about. I actually order about half of my groceries from Amazon now, everything but fresh produce and dairy (although I get soymilk from Amazon.)
Type in the item name, one-click, Amazon Prime. Bam. Free second day delivery in about 5 seconds. It arrives in tidy little boxes with inflatable pillows of padding, both of which I break down and send to recycling.
But I also get my books and music from Amazon, along with selling used books that I’ve read. I buy all my electronics and kitchen appliances from Amazon. And Amazon Web Services keeps my company going on a day-to-day basis with Mechanical turk and S3 (and soon EC2). I’m even working on a new business where I’ll be using Amazon to do fulfillment of physical goods.
I’m perpetually astonished by the extent to which almost all my quotidian needs to be taken care of my Amazon. This might suck if it were an awful company with poor customer service, but since the opposite is the case I’m perfectly happy to have them cater to my every whim.
Amazon Corp.
on 16 Jul 07The checks in the mail Ryan.
michele
on 17 Jul 07I’ve been ordering Clif Bars by the case like this thru Amazon. We haven’t received month 2 of the subscription yet but my family seems to eat a lot of Clif Bars.
JF
on 17 Jul 07Michele, I’m doing the same thing! Go Clif!
Randy
on 17 Jul 07evitamins.com has a subscription option as well, with vitamins and supplements you can get a good idea when you’ll need a new bottle.
I hear the Tuscan milk from Amazon is amazing.
Pete W
on 17 Jul 07I’ve been using this for months ordering diapers. They arrive at the door monthly at a better price than using a coupon at the local store. Once, we supplemented the subscription supply with a 40-pack to ensure we didn’t run out, but, on average, we use a box per month more or less.
Jen
on 17 Jul 07We have ‘subscription’ coffee here in Europe. Too bad it’s a huge waste of packaging, shipping and such.
While I miss the conveniences of the USA, this is starting to get a little silly. I mean, do you really need to have someone deliver razors?? What a waste of resources.
Nic
on 17 Jul 07@Jen, Whether someone delivers (who is doing the rounds anyway) or whether you make your own trip to purchase the razors… does it make a difference? delivery is actually probably the less wasteful!
Eloy Anzola
on 17 Jul 07Performance Bike, has been doing for a couple of years, for endurance/bike related nutrition (like cliff bars.)
It is indeed a great idea.
http://www.performancebike.com
~Bear'Z Blog~
on 18 Jul 07Nice stuff. When Amazon will work in Russia? I forgot buy it. lol.
Don Schenck
on 18 Jul 07In Soviet Russia, Amazon buys you.
I’m not sure the subscription would work per se, but Ryan’s described scenario sounds perfect. I need to look into this.
I get my veggies from a CSA: Goldfinch Farm. I reckon we could get other stuff from Amazon, particularly since we live on a gluten-free diet.
Nevertheless, kudos for Amazon.
Dave Crosby
on 20 Jul 07We do the same thing at Prepaidonline.com for years, offering flexible subscription options to refill their prepaid wireless phone (tracfone, boost, att go phones, etc). Key thing is developing the right frequency to fill the need when it’s needed and to be flexible to handle customers who want something now instead of later…
Skeptical
on 23 Jul 07This makes sense for items such as filters – like Filters On Time and others offer – but I agree on the shaving and other personal care items; who can say how often they need those things?
This discussion is closed.