Online marketplace and retailer Amazon has launched a new service for its merchants called Buy with Prime, allowing them to build direct relationships with their shoppers.
This tool would allow merchants to list the products they sell through the platform directly on their websites in the same way that competitor Shopify does.
This Buy with Prime feature would use Amazon’s payment and fulfilment services. Those merchants already using those services will be able to quickly add the new features to their online stores. This should be easy to do since Amazon already has their inventory in their system and fulfilment centres.
Merchants will be required to set up an Amazon Seller Central account with an Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfilment service and an Amazon Pay account. By installing the right JavaScript widget on their stores, merchants will also be able to add the new Buy with Prime feature to their goods.
Any retailers who use this service will also be able to receive data about their shoppers, including email addresses to help with customer service. This should allow them to build a direct relationship with their shoppers.
As more and more merchants consider using other platforms such as Shopify, this is an interesting move from the retailer to try to retain customers. Shopify has proved to be a credible opponent to Amazon in the ecommerce sphere.
