May 30, 2013
Will Easier Log-Ins Give Amazon an Advantage?
Amazon.com is looking to take the guesswork out of logging in. The e-tail giant has launched a new service, Login with Amazon, that will enable over 200 million of the company’s customers to log in to its various sites as well as affiliates with a single password.
In a press release to announce the service, Amazon pointed to a Harris Interactive study from last year, which found Americans on the internet have five or more passwords to remember. By allowing customers to log in to additional sites using their Amazon account information, the company is looking to provide a smoother customer experience.
The first sites to use Login with Amazon were Zappos and Woot. Forty percent of Zappos’ new customers used their Amazon account to sign in. Woot found that its customers overwhelmingly used Amazon when given the choice of social log-in options.
The service is available at no charge to developers.
"Login with Amazon enables app developers and website owners to leverage Amazon’s trusted sign-in solution, allowing them to focus on providing a great experience for their customers," said Michael Carr, Amazon’s vice president, eCommerce Services. "Amazon customers now have a hassle-free way to quickly and securely sign-in to apps, games and websites, without having to remember yet another password."
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What will Login with Amazon mean for Amazon.com? What will it mean for Amazon’s competitors?
Poll
Convenience is what Amazon continues to plow ahead with, which is smart. I heard a Millennial customer talking about how one site was “two extra clicks than Amazon.” (I mean, really.)
Security concerns for Boomers might be an issue, but at least Amazon is moving away from low prices. This move by Amazon calls into question some marketers’ claims: “That was easy.”
Making it easier for consumers to access e-tailers makes sense. Hopefully, Amazon will couple this with a push for consumers to create more secure passwords. The danger is that a stolen password can access more sites and create greater fraud.
I wonder how customers would react if Amazon got hacked and their one-password-fits-all was stolen. I continue to read that the future will provide us with a better way of identifying ourselves on the web. Till then, I will continue to use different passwords for different sites.
Forgetting passwords is a common frustration for all of us. Facebook and now Amazon are helping reduce frustrations with logins at other websites.
It is now time for the computer industry to introduce the technology to constantly verify our identities while we are using our computer or mobile device. This would help eliminate the many login frustrations.
This is another simple discussion…anything that speeds logins is a positive. This is especially true for retailers. The more difficult the login, the higher the likelihood the shopper will go no further.
This is simple: Simple is better. Simple is easier. And, easier is better. Amazon is a role model for easy/simple. Just look at their one-click purchasing option. More of that is good.
The plan appears to be good and easily workable. But how will it be secured? Loss of a password here opens too many doors that need to stay closed.
Anything that makes it easier and faster to do business with them makes sense. I could see this being especially important in the mobile apps and browsers where consumers are even more aware of the time to log in. (They have to hurry up while showrooming.)
If anything, you have to give Amazon credit for always pushing to elevate the customer and user experience. Something a lot of brick and mortar retailers need to continue to do.
I love the idea that Amazon is moving to challenge Facebook and Google on social logins. Those companies need more people to help keep them on their toes.
So far, every company I have dealt with that has a social log-on still has you do a user name and password as a backup in case the social log-on gets hacked. You can then still secure the information while allowing a relative freedom and convenience to logging into a site.
Great move by Amazon to move beyond cheap stuff and tax advantages.
I see this plan as Amazon doing a little catchup with some of the giant bricks retailers. Their sites are almost as comprehensive and with only one log-in. The single log-in is seen as far easier to consumers ant that alone is pulling from Amazon sales. The better question is, how many of Amazon’s partners will sign over control for Amazon’s single sign-in and will this allow for equal to or better than the competitions offerings? We’ll soon see for ourselves at no additional cost.
This is a great feature, but not without some security concerns. Amazon will have to ensure users of its ability to keep their information safe and spam-free. Given their recent high marks from consumers, it seems likely that Amazon would be the right company to launch such a venture. (And collect some worthwhile data in the process.)
Despite recent articles in which some believe Amazon makes “almost no money,” investing in technology and infrastructure has added intrinsic value to the organization. This is just another step in the right direction for Amazon. Competitors will, yet again, have to create more benefits to offer shoppers.
No big deal, but might make it a little easier for some people to log in.
I have pointed out, to varying degrees of disbelief by the audience, that Amazon is THE greatest SELLING organization in the world. For them, other than products, it is ALL about the speed and convenience for the shopper. Notice their “one click” check-out on the back end. Now they are introducing “one click” check-in, for not only their own customers, but for anyone else’s customers, too! Well, of course, that obviously is an overstatement, since you have to at least point to the online site you want. But the point is, this is a HUGE contribution to accelerating the speed of selling, aka the VOLUME of selling.
Then there is the selling between check-in and check-out, described by a former Amazon programmer: “We used to joke that the ideal Amazon site would not show a search box, navigation links, or lists of things you could buy. Instead, it would just display a giant picture of one book, the next book you want to buy.” [See Efficiency & Convenience: An Introduction to “The Third Wave” of Retailing.] This is the holy grail of personal selling, something most SELF-service retailers find to be an unintelligible foreign language, in their “mini-warehouse” world.
Nevertheless, this is the wave of the future, again, with Amazon in the van!
Simplicity always wins. It’s as simple as that.
Login with Amazon is another great example of how Amazon.com is living up to its mission statement of “seeking to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company.”
I am going to call Login with Amazon a triple play because it provides ease of use by making login intuitive to their target markets—customers, app developers and website owners.
This makes Amazon.com an even stickier website and leaves competitors wondering how they can best get customers to leave it. How to be stickier than Amazon.com? I don’t believe it’s possible.
It will make Amazon the main entry point for users and will be a major hurdle for the competitors.
Linking log-ins is a smart way of conducting business. For a giant like Amazon and all of its affiliates this makes great sense. Amazon should do the next best thing and enable this service to store all of a customer’s log-in information for any website. Then it holds great value to their customers and still brings them through an Amazon portal each time.
Interesting approach to add convenience for customers and expand brand reach, and also allow it to capture add+ information about its customers. Think about how much information Facebook gains when people use Facebook login for other sites and applications.
Minding barriers is essential. Every morning, every retailer should look in the mirror and ask “how can I make easier and faster for customers to buy more product today?”
I wonder if Amazon is recording which of their customers visit other sites using Login with Amazon?
I suspect that information is of substantial commercial value to Amazon. It then gives Amazon a powerful lever to tailor its own site to encourage customers to shop there rather than at the affiliate.
Knowledge is power….
Faster, better, stronger – Yes! …for Amazon. How can I be Faster, better, stronger…for competitors?
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Convenience is what Amazon continues to plow ahead with, which is smart. I heard a Millennial customer talking about how one site was “two extra clicks than Amazon.” (I mean, really.)
Security concerns for Boomers might be an issue, but at least Amazon is moving away from low prices. This move by Amazon calls into question some marketers’ claims: “That was easy.”
Making it easier for consumers to access e-tailers makes sense. Hopefully, Amazon will couple this with a push for consumers to create more secure passwords. The danger is that a stolen password can access more sites and create greater fraud.
I wonder how customers would react if Amazon got hacked and their one-password-fits-all was stolen. I continue to read that the future will provide us with a better way of identifying ourselves on the web. Till then, I will continue to use different passwords for different sites.
Forgetting passwords is a common frustration for all of us. Facebook and now Amazon are helping reduce frustrations with logins at other websites.
It is now time for the computer industry to introduce the technology to constantly verify our identities while we are using our computer or mobile device. This would help eliminate the many login frustrations.
This is another simple discussion…anything that speeds logins is a positive. This is especially true for retailers. The more difficult the login, the higher the likelihood the shopper will go no further.
This is simple: Simple is better. Simple is easier. And, easier is better. Amazon is a role model for easy/simple. Just look at their one-click purchasing option. More of that is good.
The plan appears to be good and easily workable. But how will it be secured? Loss of a password here opens too many doors that need to stay closed.
Anything that makes it easier and faster to do business with them makes sense. I could see this being especially important in the mobile apps and browsers where consumers are even more aware of the time to log in. (They have to hurry up while showrooming.)
If anything, you have to give Amazon credit for always pushing to elevate the customer and user experience. Something a lot of brick and mortar retailers need to continue to do.
I love the idea that Amazon is moving to challenge Facebook and Google on social logins. Those companies need more people to help keep them on their toes.
So far, every company I have dealt with that has a social log-on still has you do a user name and password as a backup in case the social log-on gets hacked. You can then still secure the information while allowing a relative freedom and convenience to logging into a site.
Great move by Amazon to move beyond cheap stuff and tax advantages.
I see this plan as Amazon doing a little catchup with some of the giant bricks retailers. Their sites are almost as comprehensive and with only one log-in. The single log-in is seen as far easier to consumers ant that alone is pulling from Amazon sales. The better question is, how many of Amazon’s partners will sign over control for Amazon’s single sign-in and will this allow for equal to or better than the competitions offerings? We’ll soon see for ourselves at no additional cost.
This is a great feature, but not without some security concerns. Amazon will have to ensure users of its ability to keep their information safe and spam-free. Given their recent high marks from consumers, it seems likely that Amazon would be the right company to launch such a venture. (And collect some worthwhile data in the process.)
Despite recent articles in which some believe Amazon makes “almost no money,” investing in technology and infrastructure has added intrinsic value to the organization. This is just another step in the right direction for Amazon. Competitors will, yet again, have to create more benefits to offer shoppers.
No big deal, but might make it a little easier for some people to log in.
I have pointed out, to varying degrees of disbelief by the audience, that Amazon is THE greatest SELLING organization in the world. For them, other than products, it is ALL about the speed and convenience for the shopper. Notice their “one click” check-out on the back end. Now they are introducing “one click” check-in, for not only their own customers, but for anyone else’s customers, too! Well, of course, that obviously is an overstatement, since you have to at least point to the online site you want. But the point is, this is a HUGE contribution to accelerating the speed of selling, aka the VOLUME of selling.
Then there is the selling between check-in and check-out, described by a former Amazon programmer: “We used to joke that the ideal Amazon site would not show a search box, navigation links, or lists of things you could buy. Instead, it would just display a giant picture of one book, the next book you want to buy.” [See Efficiency & Convenience: An Introduction to “The Third Wave” of Retailing.] This is the holy grail of personal selling, something most SELF-service retailers find to be an unintelligible foreign language, in their “mini-warehouse” world.
Nevertheless, this is the wave of the future, again, with Amazon in the van!
Simplicity always wins. It’s as simple as that.
Login with Amazon is another great example of how Amazon.com is living up to its mission statement of “seeking to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company.”
I am going to call Login with Amazon a triple play because it provides ease of use by making login intuitive to their target markets—customers, app developers and website owners.
This makes Amazon.com an even stickier website and leaves competitors wondering how they can best get customers to leave it. How to be stickier than Amazon.com? I don’t believe it’s possible.
It will make Amazon the main entry point for users and will be a major hurdle for the competitors.
Linking log-ins is a smart way of conducting business. For a giant like Amazon and all of its affiliates this makes great sense. Amazon should do the next best thing and enable this service to store all of a customer’s log-in information for any website. Then it holds great value to their customers and still brings them through an Amazon portal each time.
Interesting approach to add convenience for customers and expand brand reach, and also allow it to capture add+ information about its customers. Think about how much information Facebook gains when people use Facebook login for other sites and applications.
Minding barriers is essential. Every morning, every retailer should look in the mirror and ask “how can I make easier and faster for customers to buy more product today?”
I wonder if Amazon is recording which of their customers visit other sites using Login with Amazon?
I suspect that information is of substantial commercial value to Amazon. It then gives Amazon a powerful lever to tailor its own site to encourage customers to shop there rather than at the affiliate.
Knowledge is power….
Faster, better, stronger – Yes! …for Amazon. How can I be Faster, better, stronger…for competitors?