Amazon Home – Whole new way to discover & experience products
One of the biggest problems we have as an online retail store is selling “high consideration items,” such as large furniture pieces, appliances, and smart home products – people want to touch it, feel it, sit on it, play with it, and experience it in person before spending thousands dollars on them.
So how do we solve this problem – without building physical stores?
By turning 4.5 million of Airbnb homes around the world into micro showrooms where millions of people can discover and have hands-on tactile experience with all things Amazon.
This project consists of 2 parts:
Part 1 (Host experience) – How do we fill millions of Airbnb homes with Airbnb products?
Part 2 (Guest experience) – How do we create a delightful product discovery experience for Airbnb guests?
Part 1 – Host experience
How the hell do we convince millions of Airbnb hosts around the world to spend thousands of dollars and fill their rental homes with Amazon products?
1. Offer them simple turnkey solution packages that can help them maximize the earning potentials of their rental homes.
For example:
Furnishing packages – Various sets of furnishings based on property size, room type, price range, and style preference that can improve the quality of Airbnb homes and get more bookings (example shown below).
Replenishment packages – Get all of the hosting supplies from coffee and toilet papers to sheets and towels automatically delivered to your door and save 15%.
Smart home packages – Get the smart door lock for guests to self check-in, smart thermostat for energy-saving, and voice-controlled lights for additional guest convenience.
2. Once Airbnb host purchases a package, they can turn it into a catalog that they can share with their guests (example shown below). Hosts will earn up to 10% of each sale when their guests purchase items from their catalogs.
To prove this hypothesis, we have identified a struggling Airbnb host with a low-performing listing, then provided him with a makeover service.
Through this experiment, we were able to observe and document the process from shopping to delivery, assembly, decorating, and cleaning to see if Amazon can actually deliver these solution packages in a way that’s attractive to Airbnb hosts. Now we will be measuring the ROI of Amazon products for the next 60 days.
You can see the updated listing page on Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17962405
Part 2 – Guest experience
Once we fill millions of Airbnb homes with Amazon products, how do we create a delightful product discovery experience for guests without being intrusive?
By providing an enhanced guest experience with hotel-like convenience by leveraging all of Amazon’s existing technologies and introducing shoppable items as a part of such experience.
Below is the summary of guest experience:
