Not content with selling you everything from a Gangsta Rap colouring book to canned unicorn meat (yes, really), Amazon has revealed the latest step in its journey towards world domination.

Not content with selling you everything from a Gangsta Rap colouring book to canned unicorn meat (yes, really), Amazon has revealed the latest step in its journey towards world domination.

As widely anticipated, the retailer has launched its own smartphone. Accompanied by the now obligatory high- profile publicity campaign, Jeff Bezos became the latest chief executive to have his photo taken on a stage holding aloft a small black rectangle of glass.

As with its Kindle tablet, Amazon’s Fire phone’s main features seem to be designed to encourage as much shopping on Amazon as possible.

Firefly is an image, text and audio recognition tool that allows users to quickly identify (and of course buy through Amazon) 70 million products.

Turn on the camera, point it at something and you will probably be able to buy it (through Amazon of course); listen to a song and you’ll be able to buy that as well (through Amazon); or watch a TV show (you get the idea).

Such features masquerade as bringing revolutionary benefits to their users’ lives, although in reality they are clearly a way of further locking in shoppers to the Amazon eco-system. The etailer is also boosting loyalty by rewarding new Fire customers with 12 months of Amazon Prime membership for free.

Tesco is also expected to launch its own smartphone by the end of the year, and it’s clear that many retailers are no longer content with simply having their own mobile-orientated websites or apps.

For them, smartphones themselves have become the latest battleground in an ever-crucial race to capture shoppers’ attention before they even have to open up a browser to do their shopping.

Our latest data shows that shopping trips via mobiles were up by 15% in 2013, while visits to physical stores and purchases through PCs were down by 7%.

But Fire enters an increasingly crowded and competitive market. Will consumers really be attracted by a device which has Amazon shopping so embedded within it?

  • Robert Gregory, Research director, Planet Retail.