Whatever you think of Amazon Dash, it‘s a leap forward for the retailer. The device, which connects to a smartphone or laptop via Wi-Fi, enables consumers to scan products directly from the home.
Customers can also speak into the device if they can‘t find a barcode.
The device is free to Amazon Fresh customers in California and Seattle.
As well as fresh produce and grocery delivery, Amazon Fresh sells over 500,000 products including electronics, home and DIY, toys and film and TV.
It‘s not yet clear when Fresh will launch in the UK, but Amazon‘s UK vice president Doug Gurr said in February: “We don‘t publish forward strategy plans but history would suggest that once we roll out something across North America, typically that leads to international expansion.”
The retailer is intent on making its business as easy for the consumer as possible but can the e-commerce giant really spearhead a change in the grocery sector?
Matthew Knight, Head of Innovation at global media agency Carat says the consumers needs to be able to add to cart a whole shop if a grocery offering is to be valuable.
“Consumers want to be able to have a simple one-stop destination to do their weekly or mid-week shop, rather than selecting lots of vendors.Partnering with a large grocer in the UK could be an option for Amazon to deliver on logistics and basket offering quickly – a Tesco or Asda, or premium grocers like Ocado or Waitrose.”
Dash complements Amazon‘s flow app, which gives consumers real-time information on Amazon products through augmented reality technology. The app can decode phone numbers and web addresses as well as barcodes and QR codes to overlay information.
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