Just when it seemed like Amazon couldn’t get any bigger, the retail giant announced a new Prime benefit expansion—one that takes shoppers out of the purview of Amazon itself and out into the wild shopping landscape of the world wide web. Enter Buy with Prime, a new fast, free shipping service for businesses and smaller retailers that Amazon announced Thursday.
Amazon Prime subscription
Amazon
Buy with Prime means third-party websites will be able to tap into Amazon’s fulfillment and delivery network, which is a win-win for both Prime subscribers (who want what they want, pretty much now), who now get Prime-like shipping even when they’re not shopping on Amazon. It’s great for retailers, too (at least from what we know so far), who can add the Prime experience to their websites to offer customers free shipping as well as next-day and two-day delivery options, along with super-easy returns.
A similar service was in place before where vendors could send their products to Amazon’s warehouse—you’ve probably seen it called “Fulfillment by Amazon” online—but TBH, this change makes it way simpler for everyone involved. The new service lets those merchants already using Amazon and enrolled in that fulfillment program to offer the same Prime benefits to consumers from its very own website, and not just through a store on Amazon.
A metaphor: Instead of having to set up a table at the Amazon market, smaller merchants can borrow tables from Amazon to sell at their own market. There’s a cost, of course.
Eventually, because there’s always more with Amazon, the e-retailing giant plans to go beyond its own network of affiliated merchants and branch out to DTC-only companies that don’t sell on Amazon—a category that represents a ton of trendy businesses that Millennials and Gen Zers love.
Buy with Amazon, not to mention the plans for even more expansion, set Amazon up to be the biggest delivery service in the US, competing with both FedEx and UPS.
If, like this writer, you quit your Prime membership because you didn’t want to join forces with Amazon anymore, this might just convince you to sign back up—after all, it’s sort of like a shipping pass to a ton of stores you might be shopping from anyway (and it might give little guys more of a chance to make it in the Amazon-dominated retail landscape.) Give Prime a go by signing up here—and then get shopping.
