Amazon has announced that it will no longer be selling its $5 plastic Dash Buttons in the global market. The online retail titan in a statement announced that it has lined up interesting options to replace the service.
The device launched in March 2015 allowed Amazon Prime users to restock common household products effortlessly at the mere press of a button. Amazon’s Physical Dash buttons enjoyed tremendous success upon its launch as well as a fair share of troubles too.
A few weeks ago, a German court outlawed the devices explaining that they violated consumer protection rights by not providing shoppers with adequate price and product information to inform their decisions. The ruling was (arguably) a big blow to the service considering Germany is Amazon’s second largest market after the U.S.
All said and done, Amazon’s Smart Home Division, Vice President Daniel Rausch, considers the Dash Buttons an absolute success for making shoppers comfortable with the idea of shopping in the comfort of their homes and not necessarily at stores, browsers or apps.
Moving on, Amazon has provided its esteemed customers with alternatives for the physical device. Shoppers can now utilize virtual dash buttons on the company’s site as well as shopping by ordering through its smart virtual assistant, Alexa.
The company applauds the physical Dash buttons for setting precedence, for now, aforementioned popular alternatives.
Amazon also has a subscribe & save feature that provides for delivery schedule. Through this provision, shoppers can line up specific items they need to be delivered at specific periods in which the company will deliver.
Nonetheless, critics believe that these kind of voice services will make shoppers spend more online compared to previous offerings. A survey conducted on 2,000 Amazon customers by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners revealed that users with Amazon’s Smart speakers spend 66% more compared to the average consumer. In actual figures, “Echo owners spend $1,700 annually at Amazon on average. In comparison, members of the Amazon Prime program spend around $1,300 a year at Amazon — and the average for all American Amazon customers is $1,000 per year.”
