Amazon Expands Dash Buttons

(Los Angeles Times/TNS) —

Need some trash bags but don’t want to leave your house?

There’s a button for that.

Initially thought to be an early April Fool’s Day joke, Amazon.com’s Dash Button program is definitely real — and has added 11 new brands such as Orbit gum, Hefty trash bags and Depends undergarments.

This brings the total of Dash Button brands to 29. The Seattle-based online retail giant said the program offers more than 500 products for purchase.

With Dash, customers can order products by pressing the button, which is connected to wi-fi. After the button is pushed, shoppers receive a cellphone notification of the order and can cancel within 30 minutes.

Dash Buttons are now available to all Prime members, and the first button is basically free. Each button is $4.99, and with the first purchase Prime members will get $4.99 credited back to their account.

Amazon spokeswoman Michelle Taylerson said that she couldn’t disclose the specific number of Dash users, but that the company has “had an overwhelmingly positive response from both customers and partners.”

One popular feature? The button’s default setting, which responds only to the first order signal until that delivery has arrived. That prevents multiple accidental orders.

But some analysts are skeptical that this will be the shopping experience of the future.

“I don’t see it taking off in retail in any matter, shape or form,” said Paula Rosenblum, analyst with Retail Systems Research. “To me, this is just technology for technology’s sake.”

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