Digital Dash Buttons demonstrate Amazon's expertise in retail

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,256   +192
Staff member

One of Amazon’s best qualities is its willingness to step outside of its comfort zone to try something new. It doesn’t always work out in the company’s favor as the ill-fated Fire Phone demonstrated but even then, Amazon recognized its failure and adjusted accordingly.

In the case of the Fire Phone, Amazon felt the best approach was to scrap the project entirely. Given the sheer volume of handsets already available and the fact that many markets were approaching saturation, discontinuing the device was a good idea.

That said, axing a product that isn’t immediate successful certainly isn’t ideal in every situation. A prime (no pun intended) example of Amazon not giving up on a promising concept is playing out before our eyes.

Amazon in March of 2015 unveiled the Dash Button, a clever piece of hardware that allowed for physical one-touch ordering of common household products simply by pressing a button. Need to reorder laundry detergent? Simply press the Tide-branded Dash Button stuck to your washing machine and Amazon will get it sent right out.

Amazon expanded its Dash Button program in mid-2016 with the addition of dozens of new brands yet still, the whole thing felt somewhat gimmicky. At its core, one-touch ordering is a great idea that’s in line with the impulse buy / instant gratification behavior Amazon has been successfully exploiting for years.

Building on that concept, Amazon has taken the Dash Button digital.

Prime members that visit Amazon’s website or use its app will now see a section dedicated to digital Dash Buttons. Initial offerings are based on your recent purchases although you can manage what’s shown to better fit your shopping habits.

Tapping or clicking the white “buy” part of the button will queue up an order while tapping the brand logo will reveal more information about that specific product. Best yet, the virtual buttons are free to use whereas a physical button for your laundry room or kitchen will set you back $4.99 a pop.

Amazon already offers 1-click ordering and Subscribe & Save but virtual Dash Buttons feel like a much better (and more visible) implementation and the natural next step for the buttons.

Now, if Amazon can somehow create Dash Button ads that’d show up on other pages around the net, they’d be in business. Ads are already curated based on your online activity – why not make them immediately useful?

The secret to online retail is to eliminate friction and make it as easy as humanly possible for customers to purchase goods. Amazon is an expert at this and digital Dash Buttons are evident of its expertise.

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At its core, one-touch ordering is a great idea that’s in line with the impulse buy / instant gratification behavior Amazon has been successfully exploiting for years.
I could not have said it better myself - IMO - exploiting being the key word.

That they have converted these buttons to an app says to me that people were not biting and that, perhaps, the expansion of the program to other products did not bring the hoped-for result. I would assume that part of the reason that crapAzon designed and tried to market these buttons is because they were hoping they would fly off the shelves and generate a substantial profit for what is ultimately, IMO, a useless product, I.e., the button itself.

Then again, they already do and have been doing this when you log into your account there for a long time - even with crap that is only bought rarely, or even electronics. IMO, it is one of crapAzon's failings.

And if you want to get rid of their ads in your browser that magically appear on sites after you have visited crapAzon, block third-party cookies.
 
That they have converted these buttons to an app says to me that people were not biting
Or on the contrary, people were biting and by removing the need to purchase a physical device they could reach even further. If not they would've simply killed the button and be done with it altogether.

A prime (no pun intended) example of Amazon
It would be a bit more fun to not call it in the article and think "oooh I see what you did right there" :)
 
I could actually see the button being successful - but not if the consumer needs to pay for it themselves.


Why on Earth would a consumer voluntarily help a company sell them stuff?! That's the company's job!


If they can get the manufacturing cost down to $1.00, someone like Tide should simply give it away for free to lock in customers.
 
I could actually see the button being successful - but not if the consumer needs to pay for it themselves.
Ok think in a big family, like... big, 4 buggers running around and the guy with a full time job that comes back home and doesn't have 3 minutes to sit in front of a computer, or if he does he doesn't want to, and the tired nagging old hag humping his back to do something... and the little buggers use like, a whole box of detergent every week because they are running on undepletable batteries and love sliding on the mud (The story has no similarity to a real known person, at all). Suddenly a button to get more detergent sounds lovely for $5. Sure... for the casual or once a month (Or in my case the bottle every 3 months) buyer it's not an issue nor a necessity and clearly sounds exaggerated.

Why on Earth would a consumer voluntarily help a company sell them stuff?! That's the company's job!
Because amazon know their business. And the consumer is not helping them make a sale, Amazon is helping them doing their purchases as simple as they want.

If they can get the manufacturing cost down to $1.00, someone like Tide should simply give it away for free to lock in customers.
Dude, it's $5, it's not even half a pizza (Barely a quarter of a descent one). Don't be so cheap.
 
If they can get the manufacturing cost down to $1.00, someone like Tide should simply give it away for free to lock in customers.
I actually found out through another news topic, that Amazon gives you $5 credit on the first purchase you make by pressing the button, so it's "free" in the end.
 
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