Amazon gives Prime power to merchants so they can sell on their own sites

Future. Amazon is introducing a way for you to buy products directly from a business’ website while still receiving all the benefits you would expect from buying it on Amazon’s platform. Dubbed Buy With Prime, Amazon may be trying to prove the next phase of its growth (if you can even imagine that) is besting FedEx and UPS as a side-hustle.

Growing the Amazon
Amazon is coming to a not-Amazon store near you.

• Amazon is rolling out a Buy With Prime button for merchants that use the e-commerce giant’s warehouse and delivery services, Fulfillment by Amazon.
• The Buy With Prime button can exist on a merchant’s own website, allowing customers to receive the same benefits they would if they bought the product off Amazon — free shipping, next-day delivery, and free returns.

It won’t be free, though. Amazon will take some “undisclosed fees” on products purchased using the Buy With Prime button.

Move the marketplace
Buy With Prime is a rare instance of Amazon loosening its grip on merchants who use the platform, letting them use the perks of Amazon affiliation without having all your customer data scraped or your products allegedly copied — two sticking points in several antitrust lawsuits against Amazon.

It also shows that Amazon wants to nip the competition with Shopify in the bud. Right now, Shopify is like a decentralized Amazon, giving merchants tools to build their own storefronts. That’s been appealing to a lot of businesses. By debuting the Buy With Prime button, Amazon may be trying to demonstrate that the most important thing is making sure that customers get their products faster and cheaper than anybody else.