Running low on food in the house? With the swipe of the product's bar code and Amazon Dash, replacements can arrive as early as the next day. The announcement of Amazon Dash, a wand that any user can scan their household products, could potentially change the face of online shopping.
Amazon hopes that its newest product addition - which in the past few days seems to be many - will enable customers to purchase goods online through the Dash service, approve their shopping list and have things delivered right to your doorstep.
While currently only available in Seattle or certain areas in California, the Dash service is already getting approval from the tech world, with blog posts and information abounding over the potential efficacy of scanning a product, such as olive oil, and then approving it online and having it sent to you, all through online shopping without having to step inside a store.
"This could break the conceptual barrier between everyday purchases and online ordering," writes Graham Templeton for Geek.com. "Most people still view the internet as a place to make special purchases, or to save money. Few think of it as a go-to source for lettuce, or mayonnaise - but that could just be a product of the barrier to entry."
As Amazon extends its reach into new markets, the Dash program is essential, it says, in gaining online traction through more traditional shopping methods. It takes the normal head out to the supermarket mentality and turns it into an online enterprise that makes doing business, or making purchases, easier. All without leaving the friendly confines of one's home.
The remote control-sized device is aimed at the present for families, with Amazon even promoting the product as a means for children to run around supermarkets scanning items they want. Parents can then take the list that is formulated, see the prices, and make decisions about what is delivered.
The overall goal is to make the space between online and physical shopping closer, and could help to enable many fast-paced working families to have the foodstuffs they want in their house without having to be forced into making lengthy trips to the market.
According to others, however, it could also be an overall boost for other online shopping options, forcing physical competitors such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Safeway and others, to go online in order to compete.
It is a continuation of Amazon Fresh and the Seattle-based company hopes that the Dash will change the way shopping is done online, from looking for specialty purchases to the more everyday needs of customers.
"Amazon Fresh is a food and essentials service that only works in a limited set of areas at the moment, delivering fresh goods to users homes. Amazon Dash is a tool users - apparently - carry around and speak to when they remember what they need," the company said.
