(Amazon and Shopify Images, GeekWire Graphic)
Online merchants who use Shopify’s e-commerce platform will be able to natively integrate Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” program into their Shopify sites under an initiative unveiled by the companies Wednesday afternoon.
For Prime members, the news brings the promise of a more consistent checkout and delivery experience across a greater number of sites beyond Amazon.com.
Inside the industry, the surprise announcement amounts to a truce between two of the biggest players in e-commerce. It comes a year after Shopify warned merchants on its platform who tried to integrate Buy with Prime on their own that they were violating its terms of service and creating a security risk.
The nuances of the integration offer clues about compromises made by both companies: Amazon Prime members who sign into their Amazon accounts on a “Buy with Prime”-enabled Shopify site will use a payment method from their Amazon wallets — but Shopify will process the payments through its checkout system.
In addition, Amazon Pay will now be a payment option inside Shopify Pay.
“Most importantly, we’re giving customers access to Prime members, while also ensuring that they keep 100% control of their brand and their customer data, all within the Shopify admin,” said Shopify President Harley Finkelstein in a video released by Ottawa, Canada-based company on Wednesday afternoon.
The integration will work through a Buy with Prime app for Shopify merchants. It’s initially available to merchants on an invite-only basis, but Amazon says it will be available to all U.S.-based Shopify merchants using the Seattle-based e-commerce giant’s fulfillment network by the end of September.
In a press release, Peter Larsen, the Amazon VP in charge of Buy with Prime, described the development of the app as a collaboration between Amazon and Shopify. Amazon has more details for merchants on this page.
Buy with Prime, announced by Amazon in April 2022, expands the company’s membership program beyond Amazon.com to third-party e-commerce sites. It lets Prime members buy items on non-Amazon e-commerce sites just as they would on Amazon.com, including streamlined checkout, and free delivery and returns.