Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans to expand the availability of Buy with Prime, a service that enables other online retailers to use its logistics network and payment processing system.

Amazon first announced Buy with Prime last April. The service, which was until now available on an invite-only basis, will become broadly accessible to online retailers in the U.S. by the end of the month. Using Buy with Prime requires companies to sign up for a second service, Fulfillment by Amazon, that helps with package delivery.

Amazon’s Prime membership program enables consumers to access benefits such as free shipping and expedited package delivery for a fixed monthly fee. The Buy with Prime service, in turn, enables third-party retailers to make many of the same benefits available through their e-commerce websites. The service is designed for use in direct-to-consumer online stores. 

Using Buy with Prime, retailers can place merchandise at Amazon fulfillment centers and ship products to consumers through the company’s logistics network. Amazon enables retailers to offer free and same-day delivery options to their customers. Additionally, the company promises to ease some of the tasks involved in processing product returns.

Another selling point of Buy with Prime is that the service allows retailers to embed Amazon’s payment processing features in their online stores. On a website that supports the service, Prime subscribers can make purchases through an interface similar to Amazon’s checkout menu. Product pages can optionally display reviews from the online retail and cloud computing giant’s e-commerce marketplace. 

“Buy with Prime lets millions of U.S.-based Prime members shop directly from merchants’ online stores with the trusted experience they expect from Amazon,” Buy with Prime Vice President Peter Larsen wrote in a blog post today. “Prime members see the Prime logo and delivery promise on eligible products, which signals that the item is available for free delivery—as fast as the next day—with easy returns.”

Amazon says Buy with Prime can help retailers grow their e-commerce sales. According to the company, the service increases the chance that a website visitor will place an order by an average of 25%. Amazon detailed today that some early adopters have achieved a more than 30% increase.

“Buy with Prime has been shown to increase shopper conversion by 25% on average, according to internal Amazon data,” Larsen detailed. “This data point measures the average increase in shoppers who placed an order when Buy with Prime was an available purchase option versus when it was not, during the same time period.”

Amazon detailed last April that its Prime membership program had more than 200 million subscribers, up from about 100 million in 2018. During the company’s most recent Prime Day promotional event, subscribers spent in excess of $3 billion on more than 100 million items.

Photo: Amazon