Amazon is now offering its press-to-order Dash button to consumers in the U.K., Germany, and Austria, marking its first expansion outside of the U.S.
The diminutive device launched last year, giving Prime members a super-simple way of ordering everyday household items such as toilet roll and washing powder at the press of a button.
The e-commerce giant, clearly intent on becoming everyone’s one-stop shop for absolutely everything, is offering the internet-connected buttons for around 40 brands at launch, among them Ariel washing powder, Kleenex tissues, and Huggies diapers, or “nappies” as the Brits like to call them.
Each button costs £5, though they’re essentially free as you receive that amount as a discount with your first order.
For those not in the know, here’s how Amazon’s Dash buttons work: You simply buy a Dash button for a product you use regularly, set it up via the Amazon app, stick it in a location close to where you keep that product, and press it when you need it. Your order should turn up within 24 hours.
A notification is sent to your smartphone each time you place an order, a feature that should prove especially useful if you’ve a littl’un running about the place who likes to push, pull, prod, and, importantly, press everything in their path.
Amazon has never given specific figures for how many of its Prime members are using its Dash buttons. However, research published by Slice Intelligence in March suggested that 50 percent of those who bought the device are yet to actually place an order with it, indicating that for many the press-to-order habit hasn’t quite taken hold yet.
The Seattle-based company is also launching its Dash Replenishment service in the same three countries. This allows manufacturers of connected devices to fit their machines with the same kind of technology as the buttons so orders for new supplies can be automatically placed when the device detects they’re running low. Think coffee, printer ink, and water filters.
By making shopping for everyday stuff as simple as pressing a button, Amazon hopes its super-convenient system will score it even more sales as customers place orders pretty much without even thinking about it.
