Amazon releases more Dash Buttons

Internet Retailing

29th Jun 2016

Amazon is adding 50 new brands to its Dash Button program.

Exclusively for Amazon Prime members, Dash Buttons are internet-connected buttons which are configured to reorder household products from Amazon.com when pressed.

The popularity of the buttons is in question, with consumer research company, Slice Intelligence, publishing research in March this year that among the current button line-up available for purchase, fewer than 50 per cent of people that bought Dash Buttons actually made an order.

Announcing the expanded line up today, Amazon said over the last three months, orders made via Dash Buttons have doubled, now taking place over twice a minute. In just three months, total Dash Button orders grew by 70 per cent, the company said.

New retail categories including musical equipment and toys join the program, which now offers Prime members over 150 Dash Buttons representing thousands of products from popular brands.

“This year we’ve been focused on rapidly growing the Dash Button program in every dimension. In 2015, we had 29 brands on board and today we have more than 150 brands across dozens of retail categories and thousands of products–in just the last six months we added over four times more brands to the program,” said Daniel Rausch, director of Amazon Dash.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week consumer product brands sign up for the gadget largely to ensure their brands maintain close ties to Amazon. Although some brands such as Bounty paper towels Maxwell House ground coffee, more than half of Amazon orders are now made via Dash Button.

Condoms have also been a hit with Amazon Dash.

“The Amazon Dash Button is a huge success for Trojan Brand Condoms,” said Bruce Weiss, VP of marketing for Trojan Brand Condoms. “It literally takes being prepared and protected to a whole new level, making condom buying as easy as pushing a button. The unexpected and fun nature of this leading edge technology from Amazon goes a long way in bringing condoms more into the mainstream as a normal consumer health product.”