There’s now an Amazon Dash button for underwear

Amazon this morning gave an update on its Dash buttons in light of its recent expansion to support over 300 brands, and, in typical Amazon fashion, it didn’t release any hard numbers in terms of Dash buttons in the wild, or sales figures generated by these push-button ordering devices. However, there was a hint that Dash buttons’ traction is growing – the company said that a year ago, orders were coming in via Dash Buttons more than once per minute, and now that rate has increased to more than 4 times per minute.

It also announced its first Dash button for fashion, with the addition of Calvin Klein.

It’s for underpants.

What a world.

The buttons were originally thought to be an April Fool’s Day joke when they first launched.

Why on earth would people need a hardware device that you press to place an order on Amazon? It’s not as if ordering on Amazon is difficult these days, with its one-click checkout and saved payment and shipping information. Is a Dash button actually easier than launching the app on your phone, and pressing “Buy Now?”

Apparently – for some at least – it must be.

The most obvious use case for Dash buttons are for everyday household needs, like re-ordering laundry detergent or paper towels or dog food, for example. But Amazon has allowed brands to create buttons for a wide range of products, even for things like Rogaine and condoms and ping-pong balls.  

However, it seems the most traction is coming from those items consumers more typically re-order on the Amazon, according to another metric the retailer shared this morning.

Amazon says that for some brands, more than half of their orders are coming from Dash buttons for specific products, including those from brands like All Laundry Detergent, Folgers, Gain, Glad, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers, Persil, and Ziploc.

Yes, back up and read that again, because I know I had to. More than half. From Dash buttons.

Specifically, Amazon says that the following products get more than half their orders from the buttons: the 46.5-ounce All Liquid Laundry Detergent, 10.3-ounce Folgers Medium-Dark Roast Ground Coffee and 40-count Glad OdorShield Tall Kitchen Drawstring Trash Bags.

The buttons themselves are essentially free. Prime members pay $4.99, but that’s credited back with the first order. This is a clever trick because it actually forces you to try the buttons just to get your money back. And that means you have to go through the setup process, instead of just throwing them in a drawer, while asking yourself “what was I thinking?” and shaking your head. Instead, you have a working button, ready for more orders further down the road.

Amazon additionally announced more than 40 new buttons, including from new brand partners Caza Trail, CeraVe, Lifewater,Listerine, Sparkling Ice, Treehouse Kids, Tylenol, VOSS, Zyrtec, and others.