Back to Resources

Amazon launched their Buy with Prime program less than six months ago. In doing so they made it easier for direct-to-consumer (DTC) entrepreneurs to do the three main things that add up to e-commerce success, drive traffic, scale growth, and increase conversion rates. 

Now, they’ve made a massive upgrade to the Buy with Prime platform.

Amazon is allowing multi-channel Amazon sellers to advertise their own DTC brand’s products on Amazon (with an accompanying customizable storefront) using sponsored brand ads. 

Yes, you’re reading that correctly, and that’s not all! 

 

What Amazon’s New Update Offers Sellers

Here’s a short preview of what Amazon’s update to Buy with Prime is offering sellers: 

• The ability to showcase your own DTC products on Amazon with a customizable multi-page storefront 
• Use customizable Amazon sponsored brands to direct traffic off of Amazon to your own store
• Co-branded (with Amazon) Buy with Prime social media ads to help reach shoppers on Facebook and Instagram
• A Buy with Prime Marketing Toolkit (including the Prime badge) to drive shoppers to your DTC site

In this post, I’m going to detail how this all works, but first, if you missed Amazon’s previous announcement, here’s a recap. If you’re up to speed, feel free to jump ahead to the next section to learn how you’ll be able to use Amazon sponsored ads to drive traffic to your own brand store. 

Amazon’s Buy with Prime

When Amazon released Buy with Prime in April 2022, they made it possible for small businesses to sell merchandise on their own website, AND capitalize on of one of the principal benefits of Amazon’s fantastic fulfillment service. 

Buy with Prime is the ultimate social proof. It allows small businesses to sell merchandise on their own website and take advantage of what were previously Amazon-only benefits. 

Free same-day (and one day) shipping – Available in over 10,000 cities and towns on millions of items. Free Same-Day Delivery is available on qualifying orders over $25. Place your order in the morning, typically before noon, to get it today by 9PM. Free One-Day shipping orders placed by the evening arrive the next day. Amazon Business customers can enable Same-Day delivery under their business settings.

Free two-day shipping – Over 100 million items that arrive two business days after they ship. Unlimited shipping, no minimum order threshold. Available in areas across the US. Look for the Prime logo as you shop and choose Two-Day Shipping at checkout.

Amazon Day – Receive all eligible business orders on the same day each week—you choose the day. Amazon Day is convenient, predictable, and helps reduce truck traffic and cardboard waste. 

Discounted expedited shipping – Business Prime members pay less for expedited shipping on millions of items.

Free consolidated shipping – Available on millions of items shipped by Amazon in the continental US. Choose Consolidated Shipping on eligible large orders to receive all of your packages in the fewest deliveries. Business Prime members get their deliveries faster. 

Free delivery on special items – Get free delivery on hundreds of thousands of items that are large, heavy, or require special handling.

Advertising YOUR OWN Buy with Prime Products on Amazon

At this point the program is by invitation only, though it does give a glimpse into what selling on Amazon will soon look like for everyone. Amazon began this initiative by throwing open the doors to Prime benefits. Now, Amazon has taken the very big next step of allowing entrepreneurs to sell their OWN products on Amazon’s massive marketplace. 

Amazon has now made it possible for e-commerce sellers to use specially customized sponsored brands advertising to direct shoppers to their own off-Amazon store. 

Sponsored Brands are cost-per-click (CPC) ads that may target keywords, categories, and/or products. They feature your brand logo, a custom headline, and multiple products. Sponsored Brand ads appear in prominent places within relevant shopping results and on product detail pages. They appear on both desktop and mobile. and help drive discovery of your brand among customers shopping for similar products.

Amazon sponsored brands ads are one of the e-commerce giant’s biggest levers. With this change they seem to be making their advertising toolbox available to everyone, not just for products for sale on their platform. 

Amazon Co-Branded Social Media Ads

With this recent platform update, Amazon is pulling on all the biggest levers. That means they haven’t forgotten about social media. 

Amazon is funding and managing co-branded Buy with Prime social media ads that are designed to help participating Buy with Prime sellers reach shoppers on Facebook and Instagram and drive traffic to products on their DTC sites. 

The idea is that customers will see ads from Amazon’s Buy with Prime page on their Facebook and Instagram pages that feature specific sellers. When the shopper clicks on that ad, they’re taken to a Buy with Prime product detail page where they can purchase directly from the seller. 

(Co-branded social media ads are now available in an invitation-only beta)

Amazon’s Prime Marketing Toolkit

Amazon has also created a Buy with Prime Marketing Toolkit that allows sellers to use Amazon’s substantial marketplace presence to drive social proof and push shoppers to their DTC sites. The toolkit provides the Buy with Prime badge, which sellers can feature in their marketing alongside their own brand and Buy with Prime products. 

The Buy with Prime Marketing toolkit helps sellers to demonstrate that they offer Prime shopping benefits on their own DTC site. That means fast free delivery; a seamless checkout experience; and free returns on eligible orders. 

The Buy with Prime Marketing Toolkit is a free resource available to all sellers with active Buy with Prime product listings.

Why is Amazon Doing This Now? 

There are probably more than a few reasons why Amazon is making this move. Ultimately, I think that it really boils down to one important pillar of Amazon’s success up until now, and a hint of where they’re headed in the future. 

With Amazon’s advertising revenue anticipated to reach almost 40 billion dollars in 2023, advertising, not fidget spinners or iPhone cases has long been how Amazon makes its money. Opening up Amazon’s ad platform to the increasing number of sellers taking advantage of the growth of different selling ecosystems just makes good financial sense. 

The next reason why Amazon is moving in this direction shows how quickly they are preparing themselves for an e-commerce future that seems to favor omni-channel financial solutions. 

Amazon has been consistently innovating in the point-of-sale (POS) space. Amazon One, a fast, convenient, contactless identity service is now being used by Whole Foods along with other third-party businesses. They’ve also jumped on the BNPL (buy now, pay later) bandwagon by adding Affirm.

With Buy with Prime, Amazon has begun streamlining the point of sale process for everyone, while significantly increasing the ease and likelihood of  conversions.

Find Out More About Amazon Buy With Prime

Buy with Prime is available by invitation only. If you’re a seller interested in offering Buy with Prime on your direct-to-consumer (DTC) store, you can join Amazon’s  interest list here. 

How CANOPY Management Can Help

CANOPY Management is a full-service marketing agency for Amazon sellers. Our team consists of former Amazonians, multi-million dollar sellers, and award-winning experts. When you consider the many ways that CANOPY Management can help you grow your business, you’ll see why selling on Amazon is much easier “under the Canopy”:

• Strategic Growth Planning
• Listing Copywriting Optimization
• Listing Photography
• Product Videography
• Advertising Management
• Customer Service
• Demand Side Platform (Amazon DSP)
• Amazon Posts
• Full Service Management
• Amazon Review Aggregation