amazon dash ariel

Amazon is launching its Dash button in the UK today with 48 brands on board.

The branded buttons, which made their debut in the US last year, use wi-fi technology to send an order to Amazon with just one press.

Amazon Prime customers will receive the product the next day - or the timeframe set in their delivery preferences - free of charge.

The buttons are available to order from today for £4.99 each, but the charge is refunded on the first order.

Participating brands include big names such as Fairy, Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Finish, Huggies and Whiskas, and Amazon said it would look to add more over time. In the US, there are 150 branded buttons available.

Alongside the button, Amazon also revealed it would bring over its Dash Replenishment Service from the US, which enables devices to automatically reorder items such as detergent and printer ink when they are running low.

The service is not yet live but Bosch and Siemens, Grundig, Samsung and Whirlpool are already building integrated devices and, from today, other manufacturers will be able to approach Amazon about the technology.

Amazon expects the service to become available to consumers within 12 months.

Daniel Rausch, director of Amazon Dash, said the technology represented the “ultimate in convenience”. “We’ve all experienced the frustration of running out of something we need - Dash button and Dash Replenishment Service are designed to make that moment a thing of the past,” he said.

Amazon would not reveal the take-up of Dash buttons in the US, but said orders had tripled over the past two months. It claims one order is placed via a Dash button every 30 seconds.

But a study by retail strategist Slice Intelligence in April said less than half of people who purchased Dash buttons had actually used them.

Neil Saunders, MD of retail research agency Conlumino, said the Dash buttons had proven more popular in the US than the Dash wand, a barcode scanner and voice recognition device that launched in the UK last month.

“I think they’re more popular because basically they cover things you would call staples like washing powder and fabric conditioner,” he said.

Bryan Roberts, analyst at TCC Global, also described the buttons as being “very successful” in the US. “There’s been a huge surge of interest from various brands to get involved and have their own Dash button in the market,” he said. “Certainly I think the shopper feedback has been incredibly positive as well.”