On the last day of March Amazon launched their newest feature, the Dash Button. The tiny piece of hardware, about the size of a thumb drive, connects to Wi-Fi and allows consumers to reorder products through Amazon by simply pressing a button. Each Dash Button is brand specific and 18 partners were on board at launch.
One of the primary goals with payment methods and technology is to make payments as frictionless as possible. Consumers tend to spend more with payment cards than they do when handling physical cash; Amazon and their Dash Button partners hope that making a transaction as easy as pushing a button will lead to more sales as well.
Amazon has always put emphasis on ease of ordering with one-click and expedited checkouts, but the Dash Button takes this to a new level. Since consumers save their payment and shipping information with the largest online merchant in the United States it isn’t a stretch to think they would store information about their common recurring purchases as well, especially if it made subsequent orders more convenient to complete. Consumers can do just that and reorder products by pressing the Dash Button, Amazon then fulfills the order referencing consumer saved information about the specific SKU and quantity to order.
The Dash Button is both brand and product specific. Brands already partnering with Amazon include Tide, Glad, Gillette, Huggies, Maxwell House Coffee, Cottonelle, Olay, Loreal, Bounty, SmartWater, Kraft, Gerber and more. If a consumer had a Tide Dash Button, for example, they would specify what type of detergent they want to reorder and what size or quantity. From then on when they press the Dash Button Amazon will complete the order. The Dash Button will flash a green light to confirm request was submitted and the consumer will receive notification (with the option to cancel) via email and/or their mobile device.
Currently only Amazon Prime customers can request a free Dash Button, but the product will roll out to all Amazon customers and will also evolve into Dash Replenishment Services. Whereas the Dash Button hardware is required today, appliances and other items connected to the Internet-of-things will have the equivalent of Dash Button built-in. Although in many cases this won’t even require the consumer to press a button, the appliance will recognize when a product is low on stock.
In many ways Amazon’s Dash Button is a bridge solution. While most consumers do not yet have an Internet connected washing machine that can automatically reorder their favorite detergent after X number of wash loads, they will soon be able to stick a Dash Button on the front of the machine.
The Internet-of-things is a big idea that can revolutionize how consumers make repeat purchases for household items and groceries, and Amazon is warming consumers up to this idea with a little piece of hardware they can stick anywhere.
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