Amazon brings IoT to UK in a Dash

Roughly every six months, as the seasons change and we all look forward optimistically to the next half of the year, Amazon reminds us all that its improbable IoT service, Dash, is still a thing. This time, it’s coming to the UK.

ICYMI, Dash is the one-click, one-day delivery IoT button which brings all kinds of convenience to one’s home. Dash is positioned as the one-button-to-rule-the-home (but not really, because you need loads of them), with a range of household brands aligning with Amazon to make these adhesive buttons compel customers to repeatedly return.

Amazon tried it out in the US, everyone loved it apparently, and now it’s crossing the pond to stick to a wall in a house near you. Brands like Andrex, Ariel, Gilette, Huggies, Kleenex and Nescafe have partnered with Amazon, which is charging £4.99 a pop for the gizmo, which it says is practically refunded with an equivalent discount being applied to your first bill.

But Dash has more partners than just these six domestic behemoths, oh no, Amazon’s UK website lists 48 different products available for purchase. If you go all in on Dash, depending on the size of your property, you’ll never be more than an arm’s length away from replenishing your household goods in an adhesive IoT utopia.

In a statement which sounded remarkably similar to previous Dash announcements, and one which divulged absolutely no specifics about its transatlantic travels, Amazon Dash Director Daniel Rausch explained why Dash will solve classic first-world problems.

“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. “Dash Buttons offer the convenience of 1-Click shopping from anywhere in the home – they can be placed near those frequently used items you just don’t want to run out of, and when you see supplies running low, the Dash Button makes it easier than ever to order more. Just press the button and your item is on its way.”

Amazon says Dash Button orders now take place at a rate of over two a minute in the US, working out to roughly 3,000 orders per day, and it has grown threefold over the past two months. It’s far from certain that it will hold the same appeal in the UK, though, where the average shop is less than a hundred miles away.