Amazon Dash sets the future of grocery shopping

Amazon's Dash Replenishment is the first service to allow users to restock home supplies from their appliances, but it will probably be not the last.

The future of the smart home will likely involve multiple devices that allow for automatic replenishment of supplies. These kinds of devices were recently on display at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona and have been in development for a while. One of the primary means of accomplishing this is with Amazon's Dash service. Its buttons allow Amazon Prime customers to restock a certain product at the press of a button. This technology offers some interesting possibilities for products that need periodic resupplying.

Samsung now offers four printers with the Dash Replenishment service built in, so when the printer is running low on ink, it can automatically send in an order for new ink cartridges. Samsung has also sought to make restocking supplies easy with its Family Hub refrigerator. The refrigerator can take a photo of its contents and send it to a user's smartphone, from which a person can select specific items to order.

Whirlpool is one of the first companies to implement Dash Replenishment into its models, particularly in select dishwashers that can order a specified detergent when stock is running low. Whirlpool showed off these washers at CES earlier this year.

Whirlpool and Samsung are just two of 15 high-profile partners Amazon has specified on its site for its Dash Replenishment program. Brother, GE and Brita, among others, are also using the service and offer products that compete with Samsung and Whirlpool.

Automatic orders can go astray, of course. Oren Levy at TechCrunch warns about a future in which people miss out on opportunities to save by looking for better deals. Technical glitches can also make things more complicated for users rather than simplifying their lives as the technology is meant to do.

However, while consumers probably realize they will miss out on deals when things are ordered for them, they still pay more for convenience all the time. Often, for things such as laundry detergent, it is common for people to pay for convenience as they pick up things they need at a nearby store on the way home. This is why early implementation is focusing on products, includingprinters and dishwashers.

For products that offer automatic replenishment of things people aren't likely to shop around for, the convenience might be too much to ignore. These types of services, whether they come from Amazon or not, are likely to become more common in the future.

See a comparison table of home refrigerator suppliers on GlobalSources.com