News Amazon unveils item-ordering Dash buttons

Would it not be easier to pop to the local shop for such items

 

If that was the case then online shopping with the likes of Tesco and Sainburys, etc wouldn't be as successful as they are. Online shopping is now massive and is only going to get bigger and better as more and more is available. The only reason to 'pop to the shop' is for anything that is needed immediately, anything needed where tomorrow is good enough then they have that covered as Amazon offer free next day when you subscribe to Amazon Prime and the supermarkets offer next day when you become a subscription shopper.

 

Kids press it a hundred times, have to cancel 100 orders. Woo

 

ok

Kids press a hundred buttons then

 

Surely there must a cheaper software version of doing this... Maybe even with an NFC tag you put your phone against? Then you can check the order straight away, and no pesky kids can cause a delivery flood?
In fact, I dunno why products don't include that already. Washing machine lets you buy a certain brand of tablets easier, coffee machines get you hooked up quicker, toilets make sure you buy a particular brand of toilet paper... The possibilities are endless!

 

The purpose of this is Amazon want to ensure you order everything from Amazon, and I do mean everything. It used to be books, then it was books + media, then it was books + media + tech... now we're happy ordering anything from Amazon.

Yet my washing liquid and loo rolls still come from the local supermarket.

Amazon want me to have a connected home that will order on demand, order when I talk to it, or order when I press an ugly branded button stuck to the fridge.

They're not seeing this as an amazing solution to a worthy problem, just another way to get the message out that Amazon can be used to order anything. If you happen to live in the right place they'll even deliver this stuff PDQ.

 

So when the legit sellers are out of stock will it still order that $1000 can of coffee, or that $800 bottle of detergent?

Amazon has really gone downhill in the past few years with scammers all over the site. Until this is taken care of i'll be damned if i buy something that orders automatically at the press of a button.

 

Pretty sure they'll have thought of that too. Maximum spend for the item in question, and so on, or "only at this price" - it's hardly rocket science.

I don't get the cynicism over this. In the very near future...

Amazon Prime + delivery by drone/quadcopter + Amazon dash = press a button and the coffee, or toilet roll, or kentucky bourbon, or whatever, arrives at your house the very next morning....and you pressed ONE button. Personally, I think that is damn amazing.

 

I think you've missed the point a bit. Amazon are currently really cheap (on some things) - until they've crushed the life out of significant competition - at which point you'll find they suddenly become really expensive.

All the supermarkets have been playing that game for years - wherever there's a monopoly over an area, there's high prices. As soon as another major supermarket open up in the vicinity, lo and behold, they can suddenly afford to sell their goods a lot cheaper.

Amazon is like that, but on a scale never seen before.

 

Me too, i don't get the negative reaction. I think it's awesome and convenient. If you have a better/faster/cheaper way of getting your stuff then then good for you, but you're probably in the minority. Most will welcome Amazon's innovation.

 

IMO this would be better as part of an app... A list of things you buy a lot of/buy regularly [which could easily be gleaned from order history or loyalty schemes], tap 'I'm out of this!' or whatever and it'll either tag it on to your next online order, or remind you when next in store [though obv this won't be suitable for amazon, thinking more tesco et al]...

The idea is good, just not liking the execution... and yes... I was deeply sceptical of this given the date...

 

This is complete bull**** as the supermarkets... Tesco, Sainburys, etc, (all those with online shopping facilities) have standardised, national prices. The only differences being the 'Express' or 'Local' stores that frequently don't participate in certain offers and may have higher prices on more general items. So the idea that their prices fluctuate in monopolised areas simply isn't true. Unless of course, you can prove me wrong.

 

Something else that Amazon have also implemented recently is a 'reorder item' option which can be set for specified periods of 1 month, 3 months or 6 months for things that you might wish to keep in stock.

 

Sorry, that's just not true. Certain selected lines may be advertised nationally, and therefore standardised nationally, but much of what a supermarket sells is still zone priced - and not just zoned by region, but zoned within the regions. It's been standard practice for decades.

My mother lives in a seaside town in North-East Essex, and until recently the East Anglia Co-Op was the dominant chain in her area. Not only were they incredibly expensive, but the difference between stores less than 2 miles away was as much as 50% on certain items, (the small stores near the seafronts being more expensive than the large store further inland) - I've seen it with my own eyes. A small Tesco Express opened up and suddenly she experienced dramatic price drops across almost all ranges of products, and in all stores.

I appreciate that's only anecdotal evidence, (although I have other examples with other chains in other areas) but if you shop in different areas regularly enough you will see the differences.

I can't point to a web page for you, but it doesn't make it any less true.

 

Perhaps I am being too negative about it. I mean it is a good idea. Personally I have never had a good experience with Amazon and the shear amount of scammers on the site doesn't help.

 

Really? I've been shopping with them for over 15 years and never had a bad experience. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of orders (out of hundreds) that have arrived late or damaged, and in every case Amazon's customer service was exemplary. The fact they act as a storefront for thousands of other merchants (which, by the way, is clearly noted on the product page) doesn't detract from that, and personally I've had good experiences on occasions I've used a third party merchant, but you can avoid getting scammed (not that I've ever had a problem) by only ordering products that are sold by Amazon or sold by a third party but fulfilled by Amazon. Generally these are the items which can be delivered with Prime.

 

No I think you're the one who has missed the point. The point is that Amazon hosts many third party sellers, some of whom charge ludicrous prices for things that are actually sold much more cheaply by Amazon or other third parties (or they charge punitive postage). If Amazon's Dash button ordering system "failed over" to a third party seller's product in the event Amazon itself was out of stock, you could risk an automatic purchase of a $5 bottle of laundry detergent for $500.

The solution is pretty simple - I expect Amazon will restrict Dash to Amazon first party sales only, will keep large stocks of the limited range of items available through Dash, and will rarely run out of stock. On the rare occurrences when it does, it won't automatically send an alternative vendor's product but will instead notify of the delay.

The unrelated point you are making is that Amazon uses its scale to bully smaller retailers out of the market, then raises prices when the competition is dead. I don't know if there is evidence of them doing this, but it is a common tactic employed by supermarkets moving into new territories. If that's Amazon's game, I don't know that the extra convenience of the Dash button will have much impact.