Consumers apparently thought that Amazon’s press-to-buy Dash button was an April Fool’s joke when the e-commerce giant unveiled the diminutive device last year. However, the company, in its quest to become your one-stop store for absolutely everything, really had made push-button ordering a thing, and 14 months on is continuing to expand its range of branded buttons.
More than 100 different buttons are already available for everything from coffee to condoms, but Amazon is reportedly intent on getting its gadget into every corner of your home, with “dozens” of additional brands expected to launch this week.
However, despite Amazon’s efforts to get consumers to reorder a range of household items with the press of a button, it seems some Dash owners – half to be exact – have forgotten they even have them. Research published by Slice Intelligence at the end of March suggested that 50 percent of people who bought the buttons are yet to actually place an order with them, leaving the company with some work to do if it wants to make a success of the system.
In case Amazon’s super-simple device has passed you by, Dash is a little Internet-connected button about the size of a thumb drive that lets you order a particular item from its online store with a single press.
For example, you might stick a Tide-branded button on the washer so when you’re running low on laundry detergent, all you need to do is press it once to order a fresh supply. Yes, it really is that simple.
The buttons, which are available to members of Amazon Prime, cost $5 each, though you get that back with your first purchase.
Amazon, however, is no longer the only player in the game when it comes to button-based buying. Israel-based startup Kwik announced last week it, too, wants a piece of the action, and is already working with the likes of Domino’s, Budweiser, and Huggies to launch a similar system to Amazon’s.
