Amazon is extending Prime benefits to ecommerce sites beyond Amazon.com through the Buy with Prime option. Retailers who utilize Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will be able to add Buy with Prime to their own checkout process, which will allow Prime members shopping there to utilize Amazon Pay and benefit from two-day shipping and free returns.
Participating merchants can display the Prime logo and expected delivery date on products in their own online stores to help shoppers find eligible items. Amazon handles the order while the retailers receive customer information, including email addresses, to help them deliver customer service and continue building direct relationships with their shoppers no matter how they choose to check out.
The service will be invite-only for the duration of 2022. Amazon plans to eventually offer the service to merchants who don’t sell on its marketplace or use FBA.
The news comes a week after Amazon announced it would be adding a 5% per-item surcharge to FBA orders to combat fast-rising fuel prices. Amazon isn’t alone among transport-heavy companies — Lyft and Uber added fuel surcharges in March — but the retailer may need to offset the impact the price hike will have on inflation-wary customers. Walmart also is reportedly closing in on the price gap, which could give even a small increase an outsized impact.
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FBA retailers also will benefit from the accelerated delivery time Prime fulfillment offers. Shoppers are turning to buy online, pick up in-store services to help them cut the cost of delivery, and offering Prime’s massive install base fast and free shipping can help smaller companies compete in an increasingly omnichannel world.
