Back in March of 2015 the first Dash buttons were made available in the US by e-commerce giant, Amazon. These dinky, wireless devices are designed to be stuck around the home, whether on appliances or simply on a convenient wall space. And once pressed, they automatically place an order for a particular product online.

Now Amazon has launched the Dash button range in the UK, working with a range of major brands, including Finish, Gillette and Ariel, in an attempt to get more people onboard with this emerging retail phenomenon, according to BBC News.

There was a lot of scepticism surrounding the Dash button when it was first announced and Amazon has admitted that it took a while for customers to come around to the idea of using it. But with a tripling of orders placed via this device in recent months, it believes that the time is ripe for a wider rollout.

While most people head online or to the shops when they find that they have run out of a particular household product, the Dash button is designed to eliminate any of the usual work involved in making such essential purchases. So from dishwasher tablets to bathroom products, ordering via safe shopping online is as simple as pressing a button.

It may still seem a little difficult to see why the Dash button is such an important innovation, but experts believe that Amazon’s intention of launching this device is really to test the waters for the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) and lay the foundations for the arrival of more smart, connected devices in every household.

This button is effectively a way of retroactively adding smart features to old appliances. But once more people own fridges and washing machines with their own built-in networking capabilities, Amazon will be aiming to integrate its shopping services into them for native e-commerce action.