Amazon Dash service expands to over 100 buttons

A year after Amazon first unveiled the Dash Button, the number of instant-order buttons is more than tripling due to popularity and demand.

Thanks to Dash, Amazon Prime customers will now be able to order even more in a flash.

Amazon announced on Thursday that it will be adding even more Dash Buttons to its popular instant-order series.

In a press release, Amazon Dash Director Daniel Rausch said, “We’re excited to now offer over 100 Dash Buttons representing top-name brands across dozens of retail categories and thousands of product options.”

Amazon currently offers Dash Buttons for everything from chips and coffee to household cleaners, building on the buttons for items like snacks, laundry detergent, and trash bags that were introduced in 2015. Brand partners include Brawny, Gain, Doritos, and Starbucks. Amazon Dash Buttons are small, oval-shaped buttons, with a brand affiliation, that let customers replenish common household items whenever they are running low.

Consumers simply connect their button to Wi-Fi, push it, and a box arrives two days later. All products ship for free through Prime. Dash Buttons are still only available to Amazon Prime members, who get a $4.99 credit (the same amount as the cost of a button) to their Amazon account when they place their first order with one.

Even though Dash buttons only let customers buy one product exclusively, and place one order at a time, Amazon says that the buttons have proved immensely popular with consumers -- both for the novelty factor and convenience. Rausch said in the release that Dash Button orders are growing in both frequency and value (though Amazon did not reveal how much revenue those orders have generated). He added that orders placed using the Dash Button have grown by more than 75 percent in the last three months, and that they are placed more than once a minute.

With demand growing from customers who want more brands and categories to choose from for the Dash Button, companies are sensing an opportunity in this space. For companies, the most attractive thing about the Dash Button is that it creates a powerful sense of brand loyalty. Because Dash Buttons are tied to specific brands, customers can become automatically tied to one product provider when they buy a Dash Button for one product, like paper towels or soda.

“[The] Dash Button makes shopping easy, and fun. We’ve seen great engagement from our customers and are excited to bring more brands to the Dash Button lineup, including favorites like Lysol, Airborne and Air Wick,” Taryn Mitchell, Global VP Digital Sales at RB, said in the news release.

Dash is not the only series of Amazon products that let customers order instantly. In early March, Amazon introduced the Amazon Tap and the Echo Dot. These two smaller, lighter versions of the full-size Amazon Echo, like their larger cousin, allow people to buy products, play music, and perform other tasks when prompted.