Amazon is stepping out of its marketplace and into competition with Shopify: merchants can now also use Amazon’s services on their own web shop.
Prime, without Amazon
Get free delivery from Amazon, pay through Amazon, enjoy Prime advantages, but do not get lost in the massive shopping platform of the e-commerce giant. That is what “Buy with Prime” promises in the United States: retailers and brands can now link their own webshops to the Amazon system.
Webshops offering the service can be recognised by a Prime logo on their site. Consumers will immediately see the expected delivery date for the products concerned, and they can pay with Amazon Pay and use Amazon’s fulfilment network to have orders delivered. Buy with Prime moreover guarantees free returns.
Invitation only
“Buy with Prime is easy to add to most existing direct-to-consumer online shops, and will be rolled out by invitation only through 2022,” the company’s blog post reads. Initially, only retailers using Fulfillment by Amazon are invited, but later, merchants and brands not selling on Amazon can also sign up.
That first group of retailers will be able to add Buy with Prime to their online shop in minutes, as their stock is already stored in Amazon’s warehouses anyway. However, merchants now do get customers’ order information, including their email addresses, so they can communicate directly and have their own customer data.
In response to Shopify
With the new service, Amazon wants to attract brands and retailers who attach importance to their own experience and online shopping environment. In doing so, the giant from Seattle is entering more direct competition with Shopify, which allows brands and independent retailers to easily run their own webshop. Shopify is becoming increasingly successful as an alternative to Amazon’s ‘one-size-fits-all’.
Moreover, Prime members, who pay a fixed membership fee to Amazon, have more options with their subscription. Of course, the company hopes to retain and attract even more paying members this way. In the US, almost three-quarters of all households are said to have a Prime membership.
