Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” button on non-Amazon sites could be an actual game changer
The dreaded checkout page… Say you find a new online shop for neon sneakers. You might abandon the cool kicks in your cart if you’re too lazy to fill in your credit-card info (or if you don’t trust the retailer with delivery). Enter Amazon: it’ll widely roll out its “Buy with Prime” feature to third-party merchants this month.
- Merchants that don’t sell on Amazon (think: your fave swimsuit site) can leverage the ecomm giant’s payment, fulfillment, and delivery services.
- Less #friction: Amazon said BWP increased shopper conversion rate by an average of 25%, meaning fewer people abandoned their carts when buying with Prime was an option.
- Prime members get the benefits of Amazon’s speedy payment and free next-day delivery on non-Amazon sites. FYI: Last year, Prime went up from $119 to $139/year.
- Amazon gets more $$ (it charges merchants to use BWP). It said payment processing, fulfillment, and storage fees can vary by inventory.
No longer in its prime… The new revenue from Buy with Prime is a welcome addition as Amazon deals with slowing sales growth in its core retail and cloud businesses. The pandemic boom has died down, and it recently made its largest round of layoffs. The company’s also faced growing regulatory backlash over how it uses customer data to compete with third-party sellers (think: making a cheaper Amazon Basics version of a popular product). Psst: Amazon will still collect data from those who use Buy with Prime.
This could be Amazon’s octopus moment… BWP could make Amazon even more ubiquitous than it already is, allowing it to widely spread its retail tentacles beyond its platform. It’s also a major threat to ecomm payment titans like Shopify and PayPal. Shopify has reportedly told merchants that are trying to install the BWP button that it violates its terms of service. Amazon has the household edge: a recent survey found it to be the most trusted retailer in America.