Many brands are becoming more intrigued with the Buy with Prime feature that can be added to a D2C website. Explore insights and practical considerations for integrating the Buy with Prime checkout process into a brand eCommerce website.
Buy with Prime is taking the Amazon Prime checkout experience to another website outside of the Amazon Platform. If a merchant has Buy with Prime enabled on their D2C website, the Amazon Prime member can checkout using their stored data and payment method attached to their Amazon Prime account and receive fast and free delivery. As brands look to grow their D2C traffic and sales, Buy with Prime may be an option to consider because it removes one more barrier to the consumer quickly and efficiently completing their purchase.
According to Amazon, the qualifications are that the merchant be a U.S.-based merchant, that it has inventory inside an Amazon Fulfillment Center, that it has enabled Amazon Pay, and that it has a seller or Amazon Supply chain account. If the brand wants to display Amazon product reviews on its D2C website, then the brand must additionally have a Brand Registry and active listings for those products on Amazon.com.
Vorys eControl sees Amazon 1P brands and brands that sell direct-to-consumer through their own Amazon 3P storefront as potential candidates for integrating the Prime feature into their D2C website.
From a Vorys eControl perspective, it is largely dependent upon the content and overall score of your product reviews. If the brand has not engaged in an eControl program and thus has numerous unknown and unauthorized sellers selling its products, there is a greater likelihood of poorer product reviews. Thus, the brand would be less inclined to showcase those poor product reviews on its D2C website.
However, if the brand has employed an eControl program and thus the vast majority of its product sales on Amazon are attributable to the brand’s authorized seller(s), there is a better likelihood of the product reviews being strong, positive, and ones that the brand would want displayed. This feature again underscores the increasing importance of Amazon product reviews and the need for a holistic control strategy so you can leverage your hard work (in the form of positive product reviews) off of Amazon too.
A product’s advertised pricing on Amazon does not display on websites when the Buy with Prime feature is enabled. Accordingly, if there is MAP noncompliance on Amazon, those advertised prices will not also be displayed on the D2C website. However, brands should continue to enforce their MAP policies evenly and uniformly against all of their downstream authorized sellers across the Amazon and non-Amazon sales channels.
As this feature stands today, inventory housed at Amazon may be used to fulfill either a Buy with Prime order from a D2C website, or a brand’s 1P or own 3P storefront sales. Buy with Prime inventory is not filled with inventory of other third-party sellers sending their inventory into the Amazon fulfillment centers.
From an eControl perspective, how fulfillment evolves with Buy with Prime will be an important consideration from a quality-control perspective. Additionally, because many Amazon 3P sellers have enabled Buy with Prime on their own websites, brands should be prepared to more closely monitor other non-Amazon websites for unauthorized sellers’ product sales.
If you have any questions or would like to further discuss Buy with Prime, please reach out to attorney Jessica Cunning or Christopher Wald. Vorys eControl also has contacts at Amazon’s Buy with Prime for brands looking to learn more directly from Amazon. You may also contact the Vorys eControl team directly for more information or general guidance.
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