[Houshalter]

There is a theory about "trivial inconvenience s". That every small obstacle you put in the way of something massively decreases user participation. Require a long sign up form on your website and only 10% of people will bother.

By removing all friction and letting people order something exactly when they think of it, I suspect they will make many more sales.

[tbrownaw]

But there's also the inherent difficulties like deciding if something fits your budget, or if you have room for it, or which of a set of options you want.

I'd expect a tiny reduction in difficulty of ordering something (especially while making it harder to be sure what something you're ordering) wouldn't help much. What I would expect to matter, is how easy the entire process is compared to at other stores.

Unless they're just counting on preying on poorly-thought-out impulse buys?

[dgacmu]

If a refill of soap doesn't fit your budget, you probably need to fix your budget. (meaning: it's a predictable recurring expense, so you should be able to roughly factor it in to your budget. There are some for whom this may not be true, but they're probably not wasting money on an echo, either.). I think that's the attraction of focusing on repeat buys. Make it easier to order it from Amazon than to put in your shopping list. (which risks comparison shopping)