The Amazon Influence: How Convenience is Changing Consumer Behavior

Article by: Lauren Stair

January 13, 2023

• Strategy and Thought Leadership,
• Technology

In this video, we explore the impact that Amazon has had on consumer behavior. From one-click ordering to same-day delivery, they explore the ways in which Amazon’s user-friendly platform has changed our shopping habits and expectations.

👉 Is Amazon training consumer behavior?

Transcript:

00:00:00 Heather Geurkink
Well, here’s the question.

00:00:01 Heather Geurkink
Is Amazon training consumer behavior?

00:00:05 John Ghiorso
I mean, I think so. To some degree, right?

00:00:08 Heather Geurkink
I would agree.

00:00:09 Heather Geurkink
I think they’re hitting on the major pillar of the original retail experience, which is convenience. And I was part of the Amazon Care beta.

00:00:18 Heather Geurkink
I mean, it was amazing, just the convenience of I remember being sick. It was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

00:00:26 Heather Geurkink
And I could pull up my phone, dial in, and chat with the doctor and tell them what was going on, and I remember they said, you know?

00:00:35 Heather Geurkink
Super, you have all the symptoms. We’re going to send you a free COVID-19 testing kit, and it was at my door.

👉 The Power of Convenience and Digitization

00:00:41 Heather Geurkink
Same day within a couple of hours. Like, I think that the convenience pillar continues to be how they train consumer behavior.

00:00:48 John Ghiorso
Yeah, I agree with that.

00:00:48 Heather Geurkink
Bring them into the ecosystem and the convenience of things digitized is at the forefront of how they keep them there.

00:00:54 Heather Geurkink
Introduce new things that the customer behavior is already trained, then they’re more likely to adopt.

00:01:00 Heather Geurkink
Because the barrier to adoption is the biggest hurdle.

00:01:03 John Ghiorso
Yeah, I totally agree.

👉 Amazon Setting the Bar for Baseline Expectations

00:01:04 John Ghiorso
And what they do is set the bar for baseline expectations.

00:01:08 John Ghiorso
I forgot who it was; I think it was one of the VPs who’s been there forever, said that, it was at some conference, and he said, back in the day…

00:01:17 John Ghiorso
You know, Amazon would ship a book, and it would take six days to get to the customer, and they would get an e-mail, and it would say like, this was like a magic trick, this is the most incredible thing.

00:01:29 John Ghiorso
I went on my computer. On the Internet. And I clicked a button. And this book just showed up.

00:01:31 John Ghiorso
And he said, now if someone has a two-hour ship window and it shows up 10 minutes late, they’re sending an e-mail freaking out that you ruined their weekend.

00:01:39 Heather Geurkink
Sure, yeah.

00:01:40 John Ghiorso
Which I mean.

👉 The New Normal For Retail Brands

00:01:41 John Ghiorso
But the point he was making is that, you know, we just set the bar, and then that becomes normal, and now it’s like everyone else has to compete with that.

00:01:50 John Ghiorso
That way, that new normal.

00:01:54 John Ghiorso
And then, they set the bar again, so I agree.

00:01:56 John Ghiorso
With so many other industries outside of retail, I mean physical retail for sure, but then healthcare and all these consumer services.

00:02:04 John Ghiorso
The bar is fairly low.

00:02:07 John Ghiorso
You know, with technology, you can for sure set that bar higher and then make the rest of your competitors hit it.