Amazon
Parents can approve or reject their teen's purchases.Amazon
Amazon has launched a new kind of account specifically for teens.
Tied to a parent's account, a new kind of log-in introduced Wednesday allows teens to purchase items off Amazon.com and from Amazon services using a parent's credit card and Prime account.
Parents can provide a set allowance for shopping on Amazon using the service. They can also approve purchases teens request on a case-by-case basis.
The requests are sent via text or email for parents to approve or reject and include a message from the teen - for example, "Please please buy this for me, Mom!"
"We're empowering the parents. So we're not going to try to make decisions for them," Michael Carr, the vice president of Amazon Households, told The Wall Street Journal. "But we're going to give them the information they need to make those decisions."
Parents who opt out of the approval system can still be alerted when teens buy something with their allowance.
Up to four teens can make an account tied to a single parent account. Amazon says the service is offered only to 13- to 17-year-olds.
Amazon has an incentive to getting teens used to online shopping early and eventually becoming full-fledged customers.
Capturing teen customers, however, may be more difficult than previously imagined.
In a survey, 81% of teens ages 13 to 17 (known in the survey as young Gen-Z) said they preferred to shop in stores, while 40% said they would shop only in stores this holiday season.
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