Dive Brief:

• On Tuesday, Amazon unveiled its new Dash Button that lets users order everyday household items with the press of a button located in the home. 
• Available to Amazon Prime members on an invitation-only basis at launch, the adhesive buttons are connected to the Internet, and once pressed an order is automatically sent to Amazon and shipped. Amazon only responds to the first press of the button until the order is delivered.
• Amazon is currently working with a select number of brands, such as Tide, Gatorade, Cottonelle, to deliver household products from diapers to toilet paper and laundry detergent. 

Dive Insight:

With the button, Amazon appears to be betting on the idea that it can bypass retailers if they are already inside the customer's home. The potential of the Dash Button is highly disruptive to traditional brick-and-mortar and even e-commerce retailers, offering customers the ability to stock household items without going to the store or even online. It's still too early to tell, but the concept has the potential to minimize — or even eliminate — the need for consumers to head to the store, or even go online, for common household items.

If successful, Amazon's Dash Button could seriously impact sales at retailers stocking household products. Brick-and-mortar stores may need to offer greater value for consumers to visit their locations for these goods — think bigger discounts, deeper loyalty programs, and a unique, customer-centric experience.

The retailer is also offering the service to product manufacturers, according to CNET, where they will be able to integrate automatic ordering into product design. For example, if a printer detects low ink levels, it will order a new cartage from Amazon, again reducing the customer's need to think about reorders.