Amazon launches new logistics service, available to independent website sellers

When it comes to online shopping, what do buyers value most besides product quality? I believe that many people's first reaction is logistics speed.

In today's social development, people are somewhat obsessed with "timeliness", which has led to e-commerce platforms attaching great importance to logistics services. In the domestic e-commerce market, JD.com has its own logistics department, and its express delivery speed is also one of the best. The top merchants on platforms such as Tmall and Taobao also choose SF Express, and its logistics is also very fast.

For foreign e-commerce platforms, Amazon is still the best in logistics. Since it introduced the FBA service in 2007, allowing third-party sellers to integrate their inventory into Amazon's global logistics network, the business has developed rapidly.

However, there are many foreign e-commerce platforms, and the competition between Amazon and independent sites such as Shopify in the field of logistics is also fierce. Recently, Amazon has launched a new logistics service Buy with Prime for independent site sellers to compete with Shopify and others.

Amazon opens up its own logistics, which is available to sellers on multiple platforms

On April 21, Amazon released news that it had provided Prime members with a new benefit that would extend the convenience of Prime members’ shopping to other online stores beyond Amazon.

In other words, merchants can now display the Amazon Prime logo on non-Amazon website listings and use Amazon FBA fast delivery services. However, the service is currently only open to some invited sellers, and will gradually be opened to more sellers in the future, including those who do not sell on Amazon and non- FBA sellers.

For Prime members, they can see the Prime logo and delivery promise on eligible products when shopping, and enjoy extremely fast and free delivery and return services. At the same time, when Prime members shop through Buy with Prime, checkout will be very convenient, and the system will synchronize the payment and address information stored in their Amazon account to provide real-time logistics information.

For merchants who already use FBA, Buy with Prime can be bound within minutes because their inventory is already stored in Amazon fulfillment centers.

Merchants sign up for a Buy with Prime account, link it to their Amazon Seller Central account, select an inventory pool for multi-channel sales, and link a payment account to provide a seamless checkout experience for Prime members. Merchants can then add the service to one or more products by installing a JavaScript widget in their store.

Through this service, merchants can receive customers' order information, including the customer's email address, so that merchants can establish direct contact with customers and provide them with relevant services.

Amazon said that Buy with Prime is not provided for free, and merchants need to pay for the services they choose. Pricing is based on service fees, payment processing fees, and fulfillment and storage fees calculated on a per-unit basis. Since there is no fixed subscription fee and long-term contract, merchants can cancel the relevant services at any time.

Yienjun learned that Buy with Prime will cooperate with e-commerce platforms including BigCommerce to help merchants on these platforms improve user shopping experience, build brand awareness, and promote store development.

Entering the independent website? The battle between Amazon and Shopify is heating up

Some people point out that the launch of the Buy with Prime service is a further move by Amazon to expand its shipping business beyond its own platform, targeting the growing number of independent sellers.

In the past two years, due to the increasingly stringent regulatory policies of the Amazon platform, many cross-border sellers have begun to deploy on multiple platforms, and Amazon is no longer the only choice for cross-border e-commerce sellers. In this situation, independent sites are becoming increasingly popular, Shopify has a strong growth momentum, and Amazon has long regarded Shopify as its competitor.

As early as last year, Amazon acquired the e-commerce platform Selz, which was considered an attempt by Amazon to enter the independent station field to compete with Shopify. The launch of the Buy with Prime service is part of the layout of competing with Shopify.

On the homepage of the Buy with Prime website, Amazon highlights three advantages of Buy with Prime:

1. Free delivery at the same speed: Sellers using Buy with Prime will enjoy the same timeliness and service guarantee as Amazon FBA;

2. Your store, your customers: Sellers can establish direct contact with consumers through their own database;

3. Simple and easy setup: Amazon FBA sellers can quickly use the Buy with Prime service on their own independent websites.

It can be seen that the Buy with Prime service is a favorable policy for independent website sellers. Independent website sellers using Buy with Prime can display the Prime logo on their websites, which can increase consumers' order rate to a certain extent.

Amazon's launch of the Buy with Prime service this time , like its launch of the FBA service, may be small in scale at first, but over time it should develop into an important revenue segment.

The launch of the Buy with Prime service has improved Amazon's competitiveness in the logistics industry. Currently, Amazon has surpassed FedEx to become the third largest express delivery company in the United States. As Amazon continues to increase its investment in logistics, its position in the global logistics industry is becoming increasingly important.

According to Statista data, Amazon's logistics costs have continued to soar over the past decade, with shipping and fulfillment costs increasing nearly 40 times between 2009 and 2021. In 2021 alone, the company's logistics costs exceeded $150 billion, accounting for 32.9% of net sales.

With huge investment in logistics, Amazon's logistics covers almost all areas of land, sea and air. Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon Global Consumer, said last year that Amazon is expected to become the largest delivery service provider in the United States by early 2022.

Shopify is not willing to lag behind. In its earnings call, Shopify stated that they plan to invest $2 billion in its fulfillment network by 2024. As of February, it has spent $117 million on this investment .

Recently, there is news that Shopify is carrying out a $2.5 billion acquisition plan to expand its warehousing and delivery services. According to people familiar with the matter , Shopify is negotiating to acquire technology startup Deliverr . Deliverr can help sellers on Amazon, eBay and other online markets deliver products to consumers in the shortest time.

This will be Shopify's largest deal ever. Once the acquisition is completed , Shopify will be able to access the global fulfillment network through Deliverr's warehouses and expand its influence in delivery services . People familiar with the matter added that the acquisition is part of Shopify's strategy to compete with its rival Amazon. The acquisition negotiations are still ongoing, and representatives of Shopify and Deliverr did not respond to this matter.

In the current shopping environment, the importance of logistics services to consumers is self-evident. The competition between Amazon and Shopify in logistics is a good thing for independent website sellers.

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