Retail Dive: Amazon Extends “Buy With Prime” Service to All US-Based Retailers

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Amazon is looking to expand "Buy with Prime" service to all US-based merchants by the end of January. This will allow Prime members to check out directly via retailers' websites while still enjoying Prime benefits such as free delivery and returns. These merchants do not necessarily have to sell through the Amazon marketplace to access this service and according to Amazon, "Buy with Prime" has proven to increase shopper conversion by an average of 25%.

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“We’ve been working closely with merchants since the launch of Buy with Prime and have been thrilled to hear the results it’s helped drive for them so far,” said Peter Larsen, Amazon Vice President of Buy with Prime. “We’ll continue innovating and investing in new features, such as Reviews from Amazon, to help merchants of all sizes succeed and give Prime members the shopping benefits they love, whether it’s on Amazon or beyond.”

Despite the initial success and the upcoming expansion, the scaling potential of this project remains to be seen. Rick Watson, Founder & CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, believes that it could easily take a couple of years to figure it out.

“At the end of the day, it’s not going to be meaningful for some time, because this is such a small program. There’s something like a thousand sellers every day that joined the Amazon marketplace last year. How many are going to join with Buy with Prime every day this year? Not nearly that many,” Rick mentioned. 

The pain point that Rick saw is that the merchants don’t apply “Buy with Prime” to all products, which creates more struggle for customer's experience.

“If you look at the history of direct e-commerce, I don’t think that’s going to work at scale, and I think that will limit the success of the program,” he added. “And so, what percentage of merchants will let Buy with Prime have run of site? That is a question that they need to answer.”

Source: Amazon expands ‘Buy with Prime’ to all US merchants

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