Amazon.com wants everyone to be a member of Amazon Prime and it is willing to extend the perks of the program to other sites to make that happen. Yesterday, Amazon announced that AllSaints, a British fashion retailer, would offer Prime members free, next day shipping on purchases made, not on Amazon's marketplace, but on AllSaints.com.
The news of this deal comes on the heels of competitive analysis research by Upstream Commerce, which claimed to have found compelling evidence that Amazon tracks third-party sales on its site and uses the data to directly compete with sellers on its marketplace.
The trust factor may loom large in Amazon's ability to find partners beyond AllSaints. According toRe/code, Abercrombie & Fitch and Neiman Marcus both declined similar offers.
As to how the program will work with AllSaints, the retailer's products will show up in Amazon search results. Shoppers, who like what they find during the search, will have to click on a link taking them to AllSaints.com. Once there, they log in with their Amazon usernames and passwords and use the payments methods stored with Amazon to take advantage of the free shipping deal. Amazon will get an unspecified "small fee" when shoppers click through from its site to AllSaints, but will not get a cut of the sale.
As a GeekWire report pointed out, Amazon will not handle fulfillment for AllSaints and purchases will not come in the e-tail giant's packaging. Brands such as AllSaints might find this important as they seek to reinforce their own brand image with customers.
Rich Ascott, AllSaints' global digital director, told Re/code that AllSaints will run a storefront on Amazon, but that all goods will be purchased through that location and never through Amazon.
"I can see a day when Prime members will have access to sneak previews and first chance to shop our new collections," Mr. Ascott said at the Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas yesterday (via Mashable). "What this means for AllSaints is that we can leverage Amazon's payments expertise and global reach to introduce new customers to AllSaints by providing a better buying experience."