Two of Amazon’s most popular and effective innovations have been its 1-Click purchasing option and its development of content offerings for Prime subscribers. Now the retailer is seeking to combine these two features. In Amazon-generated entertainment content, viewers soon will be able to click on products placed within the shows and make the purchase automatically. For example, an entertaining travel show, broadcast in Japan, presents various locations and their local cuisine, as hosted by a popular comedy team. Viewers will be able to click on menu items as they are sampled by the hosts; Amazon also might make it possible for viewers to order books or other content by the comedy team if they find the patter appealing. This option suggests a broadened form of product placement, such that Amazon could control the entire supply chain: Produce the content, determine the product placements, and then earn the revenue from selling those promoted products. Although still in an experimental phase, the notion seems to make sense. It leverages Amazon’s existing capabilities and strategic advantages. And it responds to consumers’ natural curiosity about and desire for the items they see on their screens, by offering them a hassle-free, straightforward way to shop while they also are being entertained

Source: Tom Ryan, Retail Wire, August 24, 2016