And the latest shiny object is a shiny button: The Amazon Dash Button allows Amazon Prime members to pay an additional $4.99 per product to buy that product from Amazon without lifting a finger… except for that finger the customer uses to press the Amazon Dash button… So that’s way cooler than leaving yourself a Post-it-Note to remind yourself to order more soap the next time you order yourself a Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer…
Wow, this is great technology, but is it really necessary?
Sure, it automatically replenishes your laundry detergent order, and you get an alert to your smartphone to make sure you wanted to actually order a palate of laundry detergent. But couldn’t reminder technology like this be put to better use?
And why should the end-user have to pay $4.99 for the privilege of ordering from Amazon at the press of a branded Dash Button? Shouldn’t the manufacturer pay Amazon for the right to have a Dash Button? Isn’t that how marketing and advertising works?
Of course there’s the old argument that consumers will pay to wear a t-shirt with their favorite beer-maker’s label on it, and then become a mechanism for that brewery’s marketing machine (Which is why the only beer t-shirt I own is for Duff, but I guess that makes me a pitchman for The Simpsons).
Yeah, the Amazon Dash Button is way cooler than a Post-it-Note and a pen. But think of how many Post-it-Notes and pens I can buy for the cost of one Amazon Dash Button. Heck, I don’t even need to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage. And I don’t even need to buy those items from Amazon. I can just go to the store on my way home from work and pick up Post-it-Notes and pens… and while I’m at it, some laundry detergent…