All Prime Members Now Have Access to Amazon's Press-to-Buy Dash Buttons With the tagline 'Place it. Press it. Get it,' Amazon is doubling down on creating an even more seamless shopping experience for members of its paid service.
By Laura Entis
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Five months ago, Amazon unveiled its pilot Dash program in which a select group of users could order an array of household products via the push of a button.
Now, it's expanding the program to all Prime Members, as well as creating buttons for 11 new brands, bringing the total of brand-specific buttons to 29. Together, this group -- which includes Ice Breakers, Bounty, Smartwater, Kraft, Huggies, L'Oréal and Gatorade -- encompass 500 different products.
For the uninitiated, here's how it works: Amazon Prime members can now purchase any number of the available branded Dash buttons, physical devices built to be positioned around the house. Each button connects to a member's iPhone or Android smartphone, and can be customized to order a specific quantity of product from its corresponding brand (you can set up your Clorox button to order a three-pack of disinfecting wipes, for example) whenever it's pushed. Amazon then follows up by sending an order confirmation to the phone, allowing you to cancel if you have second thoughts. Also, the mega retailer has a "Dash Button Order Protection," meaning members can't place a new order until the prior one ships.
The buttons cost $4.99 (meaning that in theory, the ability to buy with one click in real life can add up quickly), but Amazon will credit Prime members for the cost of each button provided they actually order something with it.
While this sounds more than a little ridiculous -- it's easy enough, after all, to simply re-order household products on Amazon's site -- simply pushing a conveniently placed button when you realize you're out of garbage bags is more seamless than going online to do so later.
Related: Amazon Dash Makes Shopping as Easy as Pushing a Button
