Carling wants to rival Amazon Dash as it launches ‘world first’ beer button

Carling, perhaps inspired by Amazon Dash, has launched a “world first” beer button.

The button, which is designed for placement in a consumer’s fridge and syncs with an accompanying smartphone app, enables users to select from either Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s and at a touch automatically adds Carling beer to their online shopping baskets.

Carling-owner Molson Coors says the button is a bid to achieve more visibility after internal research found British shoppers were only able to see a maximum of 10 products on a page when grocery shopping online, with one in three not clicking beyond the first page after searching for a item.

Alpesh Mistry, customer marketing director at Molson Coors, claims the button is far from a gimmick and will help it to boost brand loyalty.

He said: “The Carling Beer Button is designed to tackle the increasing problem of brand visibility online and drive both brand and retailer loyalty.”

“Although it may seem too good to be true for some Carling fans, the Carling Button is not a gimmick but is already up and running as a fully functional product. It is a scalable solution, that we see having a direct impact on how our consumers shop online and purchase Carling.”

Last week, Amazon brought its Dash button to British shores. Amazon Prime members can buy Dash Buttons, which cost £4.99 each, to automatically replenish a number of household brands including Ariel, Fairy, Kleenex, Olay, Gillette, Rimmel and Nescafé.

However, Unilever has refused to put its brands on Dash in both the UK and US, with the FMCG giant thought to be exploring its own options.

And a spokesman for Molson Coors told Marketing Week that it also has no plans to work with Amazon Dash, with the Carling beer button seen as a “completely separate venture”.