Following on from its success in the US, Amazon has launched a range of branded instant purchase buttons in the UK, Germany and Austria.
What is it?
The Dash Button allows consumers to order and receive products within a day by pressing their button which costs £4.99 to set up.
The service has been designed to enable customers to replenish everyday household products with ease. The range of buttons includes Andrex, Finish, Gillette, Kleenex and Huggies. So say for example you run out of washing powder, you press the branded button and you will have a delivery of washing powder within 24 hours.
Amazon has made convenience the driving force behind the service. “There is no retail therapy in buying toilet roll or bin bags. It’s just work,” comments the director of Amazon Dash, Daniel Rausch. “We wanted to take the one-click experience from our website and put it right where people need it most, in the home, near the products that run out. So that buying them is no longer work.”
There’s more
Alongside the button, Amazon also launched the Dash Replenishment Service (DRS), a cloud-based service that enables appliances to be linked directly to the Dash ordering system using APIs. For example, Samsung has used it for topping up on printer ink when cartridges run low, all automatically.
The technology is a taster of what is to come from the Internet of Things revolution.
Will it be a success?
The idea has come in for some criticism, particularly from those factoring in the environmental implications of the service. With every individual parcel delivered, there is a significant environmental impact.
So, are we as a nation truly happy to live in a world where we have shaving foam/toilet roll/soap individually delivered to our door, rather than going to the shops and getting it all together in a weekly bundle? Time will tell. But shopping is indeed heading towards becoming an on-demand, instantaneous experience.
You can see the full range of Dash Buttons here.
