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Push a button, get some toilet paper. That’s the idea behind Amazon.com ( AMZN ) Dash buttons , which for Amazon Prime members will ship a range of products to the doorstep of American households with the push of a button — free two-day shipping and all. Thursday, Amazon announced that it’s adding a bevy of new products to its line of Dash buttons, bringing the total to “more than 100,” according to a press release. The new merchandise includes things like coffee, beauty products, and yes, condoms. “The consumer packaged-goods companies are interested in anything that they can do to grow,” Scot Wingo, executive chairman of ChannelAdvisor, told IBD in a telephone interview Thursday morning. ChannelAdvisor works with third-party sellers on a range of e-commerce websites such as Amazon.com and eBay ( EBAY ). Wingo says the consumer packaged-goods firms aren’t getting more sales in brick-and-mortar stores and have looked to e-commerce to boost stagnant revenue. And Amazon — the ever-innovating Seattle-based firm — is trying to capture more dollars that households spend. Though Amazon did not disclose the exact number of Dash buttons sold, or the revenue said buttons generated (which is typical of the tight-lipped company), it did say that Dash orders have grown by more than 75% in the last three months and now take place about once every minute. Wingo called those numbers “interesting.” “Peak Dash button will be in the mid-hundreds — the 200 to 300 range. From there, we’re likely to see Dash functionality integrated into more and more products, like the Brita filter Amazon has already announced.” Amazon’s new additions to the Dash line include Energizer, Arm & Hammer cat litter and Peet’s Coffee, among others. When asked about rivals such as eBay and Wal-Mart ( WMT ) tackling a similar program, Wingo said that it wasn’t likely anytime soon. “Amazon is on version-nine-thinking, and the other guys are on version two,” he said. There are already rumors swirling about the second generation of Dash buttons following Dave Zatz’s discovery , through regulatory filings, that it may rely on Bluetooth. The current version connects to the web via Wi-Fi. Wingo says that the Bluetooth implementation could mean it would connect to Amazon Echo , the firm’s line of “smart” speakers that include Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. “It may mean the intersection between Dash and Echo, with more verbal commands to use Dash buttons,” Wingo said. ITG Investment Research analyst Steve Weinstein released a research note Thursday which said that Amazon is on track to a “modest” revenue beat in Q1. The company has also been criticized for the amount of cardboard it generates, along with other e-commerce rivals. Amazon stock was down a fraction to 597 in early afternoon trading on the stock market today . The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 78, where 99 is the highest. Scalper1 News
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