Amazon adds Dash Buttons for 60 more brands

Dive Brief:

Amazon has added more than 60 new brands to the its Dash Button one-touch automated ordering program, with the new additions including Bai, Cheez-It, Folgers, Fresh Kitty, Meow Mix, Milk Bone, PoopBags, Pop-Tarts, Powerade, ZonePerfect and others.
Amazon Prime members can purchase Dash Buttons for $4.99, but with the first order through the button, they receive a $4.99 credit to their Amazon account. There are now more than 200 different Dash Buttons available, and Amazon claims sales through the buttons have increased by five times over the last year.
Amazon also recently expanded Dash internationally, launching in Austria, Germany, and the U.K. this past summer. Dash Buttons for a majority of brands sold out abroad in a single day.

Dive Insight:

Trust us, somebody out there is saying right now, "The day when the Amazon Dash Button program became relevant to me is the day it started offering PoopBags." Hopefully that person actually has a dog.

It has been hard to figure out Dash's real success thus far. The program seemed to start slow, and while Amazon just threw out the number about sales increasing five times, that's just coming from Amazon, and it's kind of hard to pin down what that growth multiple actually means in real numbers. Earlier this year, Amazon said that orders surged 75% in the first quarter, but such high percentages are expected when still in the early stages.

However, Amazon is doing all the things it needs to do to make Dash successful. One key to this program's growth — and one of the biggest keys to Amazon's entire corporate success story — is volume. Adding more products and more brands to give customers more choice, which Amazon has been doing fairly regularly since launching Dash in 2015, represents one of the cornerstones of growth for any department store-style retailer.

Other keys to success historically for Amazon — affordable pricing and easy ordering and delivery — also loom large. The Dash program has a modest extra fee that is basically refundable, and most of the items available are the sort of cheap convenience products that require frequent re-ordering. Also, the concept of streamlined ordering enabled by a one-touch button and Prime delivery represents the reason this program exists, and makes it a nice fit into Amazon's overall capabilities.

There is probably still going to be some trial and error with different products being placed in the Dash program. It will be interesting to see what lights up Dash Buttons — Cheez-Its and Powerade, or Milk Bones and PoopBags? As they get more products to choose from, customers will vote with their index fingers (or, we guess, whichever finger is free to push the button.) At least, that's what Amazon is hoping.