Just on the eve of April 1, Amazon introduced a new gadget named Dash Button, which will help you order groceries automatically. The timing of the announcement led a lot of people into thinking that it was just another April Fools' joke, but it turns out that the e-commerce company is pretty serious about its new technology.
The button is an oval shaped device with a sticker on the back, so that you can place it on a refrigerator, cupboard or a washing machine. Each button is assigned to a specific brand. You can press a button for your detergent, for instance, and it orders the product for you on Amazon. Then, the item will be delivered within 48 hours. Currently, a selected range of brands including Gillette, Tide, Olay, Kraft and Gatorade are working on these devices, but soon every brand will be able to join the project.
Users can set up the button to order a specific product of a particular brand; for example, every time you run out of your favorite Gillette razor, you can order a new one. Just in case your kid decides that these buttons are fun to press, dash buttons alert you via a mobile app before placing the order.
Amazon built this technology based on an extensive research into customer habits: apparently, we tend to use and stick to a specific product for quite a while. Premium members can already start using the buttons.
It seems that a revolution is on the verge of happening regarding our shopping habits. Amazon is really ambitious about the future of an automated shopping experience, the online retail giant is already working on removing humans from the equation completely. Soon, your coffee machine or washing machine will be connected to a cloud service, which will enable these devices to order for supplies themselves without you pressing a button. Although some, including The New Yorker's Ian Crouch, are quite terrified by such a future, Amazon has certainly created a big discussion on the evolution of our shopping habits.
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