The Amazon Dash button was so disruptive in concept that people thought it might be an early April fools prank on launch day, March 31st. The concept seemed so futuristic that it couldn't have been real. The main reason? Americans don't buy groceries online. In a world where omni-channel shopping is everywhere, groceries still remain are one of the biggest spending categories and one of the only categories almost exclusively available in-store. Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods Market, are piloting programs to make online groceries a possibility with delivery to consumers' homes part of the package. The concept is considered disruptive to the market, however, and since the concept is so new, adoption has been slow. Here are three ways that Amazon Dash could cause the biggest grocery disruption yet.
- Low Prices: Amazon has been known for having the lowest prices on everything. Why would the products available through Dash be any different?
- Fast Delivery: Prime members have become accustomed to 2 day delivery. Anything else would seem slow.
- Category Cycle: The categories available in the pilot phase of Dash are cyclical product categories. Products are household staples but only need to be purchased every so often. For instance, a head of household shopper might know that they usually need laundry detergent every 3 months. The Dash button allows Amazon to learn those (extremely valuable) shopping habits and buying cycles.
The other major component that will strengthen the Dash concept in the consumer market is comfort. Consumers are familiar with Amazon. They already buy things there. So consumers are comfortable literally bringing Amazon into their homes even in this new capacity. Amazon has disrupted industries before. Remember about 15 years ago when you used to go to a book store? Maybe 15 years from now we will be saying the same thing about the supermarket. Read more about this topic in Pymnts.com article, Could Amazon Do To Groceries What It Did To Books?, here.
