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Comment by sharkjacobs | Hacker News Reader

Remember when Amazon thought that people would say "buy me more paper towels" to their Echo? And of course they didn't because that's insane.

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Worse than that. Some product manager thought that if they shipped a bunch of buttons that said "Tide" users would keep pressing them and Tide sales would skyrocket. Bet he got promoted for the idea too.

I thought that was an april fools joke at first cause it was first announced on april 1

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/amazon-launches-dash-button-...

That product actually has legs in business setting if it just dumped it into your orgs purchaser or facilities order sheet for their review first.

Agreed. I can't imagine trusting it enough to make a purchase automatically, and that's before getting to the reality of how awkward it is. Which brand? Which quantity? Which style (extra strong, extra soft, etc)? Did the price go up since last time? All stuff that you can visually spot in a half second, but would be a huge PITA verbally.

That AI is clearly a product imagined by wealthy tech executives who have personal assistants who shop for them, who trust those personal assistants to buy what they expect for them. The use case doesn't resonate for us normal people, because we do our own shopping, are price sensitive, and typically don't just buy things without doing basic research about what they cost.

I'd never made that connection before. This whole category of tech company offerings makes so much more sense now.

Might be a bit reductive, but I think you can probably explain >90% of modern business decisions this way. Being completely out of touch with how a normal person lives seems to have serious impact on just about everything they do.

These people have very different problems than normal people, and they solve them in very different ways. And most of them were born rich, and have always been rich, so they can't even imagine what a normal person's life and needs are. If your target market is also rich executives, then by all means, have your rich executives dream up product features. But now, most of tech are producing solutions for rich tech executives, but hoping that normal people buy them, and they are wondering why normal people don't care.

And it doesn't help that Amazon often doesn't have great pricing on bulky, often fairly low value, consumer staples. (And, in my case, I have a Walmart just down the street so I'm not going to order my Bounty or Charmin from Amazon. The case may be different if you live in a dense city without a car but that's not most people.

Is that true? Amazon reports massive growth in AI and voice commerce. While Echo users appear uncomfortable making big purchases, the segment who routinely use it for stuff like paper towels has been taking off.

I don't know many Echo owners, but the few that I know (n=2) used it to reorder stuff like paper towels.

> There are other signs that voice shopping has never taken off. Fewer than 25% of Amazon Echo owners have ever directly used their devices to make a purchase and fewer than 5% are repeat Alexa shoppers, according to a report last year from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which conducts consumer surveys (an Amazon spokesperson said the firm's data was inaccurate and the majority of customers who shop with Alexa are repeat shoppers). And in August 2018, The Information reported that Amazon’s own internal data showed that only 2% of Alexa users had made a purchase so far that year with their voices.

from Amazon Faces Moment of Truth on Alexa as ChatGPT Steals Its Thunder (2023) https://archive.is/2jzve

That's very old data. In 2026 they reported over 100% YoY growth in AI ordering trends. I've seen >500% quoted.

The success of ChatGPT in this space would support the point that AI ordering is a valuable market segment, no?

They are currently showing buy links on Amazon prime in ads they show during their shows after being ad free for years. I can't see anyone being interrupted during their favourite show and then suddenly be interested in buying washing up liquid. Amazon also did those buttons that you clicked to reorder stuff as well.

Ads aren't about making you buy the product immediately. The goal is to make you associate the product category with the product. For example, when you think of washing detergent, which brand do you think of? Of course you think of Tide. Why? Because their advertising works. Which brand makes burgers? McDonald's. What's a refreshing fizzy drink? Coke. This comment is also an advertisement for Tide, McDonald's and Coke because every single time you see them it strengthens your recognition.

That stopped when Jeff said "Alexa, buy me a newspaper."and Alexa replied "buying the Washington Post."

Jeff: Alexa, buy my whole foods groceries.

Alexa: Okay, buying Whole Foods

I think Costco could come into this space. With fixed margins, I'd be able to blindly ask for a replenishment.

? I reorder stuff via my echos all the time. Especially things like toilet paper and paper towels.

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