Amazon to bolster IoT Dash service with new product partners

Amazon is set to add dozens of new brand names to its easy-ordering IoT service, Dash, according to the WSJ.

The e-commerce behemoth is expected to add a plethora of handy consumer IoT buttons to its existing suite of products provided by household brands such as Samsung, General Electic, PepsiCo, Brita et al. Adding to that list this time are brands such as chewing gum giant Orbit or Ziploc

Dash was launched on April Fools’ Day last year, but was no light-hearted prank by Amazon. According to the WSJ, research suggests that fewer than half of those who bought a Dash button have placed an order, while average buying cycles among active users works out at roughly once every two months.

Partners of Dash are allegedly obliged to pay Amazon $15 per button shipped as well as 15% of any recurring orders; all of that on top of the existing 8-15% commission Amazon usually charges its partners. Amazon.com shows each button on sale at a retail value of $4.99, meaning partners of Dash are making a loss on the initial transaction of each button, but rely on repeat orders to make up the deficit – the very definition of a loss leader.

So while Amazon’s continued play in the consumer IoT market gains traction among suppliers, it continues to enable a similar function with Echo, its automated home manager, which provides the same auto-ordering function as Dash. This is presumably a stop gap measure before full-fat IoT automatically senses depleted stock in certain products and takes it upon itself to compile your next order.

This fits in neatly with a hypothesis made by the Telecoms.com readership, the opinion of which was gathered in the IoT Outlook 2016 report, with 43% saying home automation or consumer electronics will be the most lucrative IoT market in the future.