Amazon is truly committed to pushing Prime membership to stratospheric heights, and a new expansion that sees it bringing benefits to Prime customers from e-commerce websites beyond its own walls should prove its commitment to the program. Prime members can now get free, next-day shipping on purchases made at British retailer AllSaints’ online store (via Re/code). The arrangement also sees AllSaints bring its products to Amazon.com search results, though clicking through to purchase will still take customers to the AllSaints website.
Curiously, Amazon only makes, essentially, an affiliate fee for directing clients to AllSaints.com, though customers use their Amazon logins and payment information to complete their purchases through a partnership introduced in September. But Prime rules all at Amazon: It’s a growing source of revenue and profit for the online retailer, and studies have shown that Prime members end up buying almost double the amount as non-Prime members from Amazon’s own store.
Already today, Amazon announced free, unlimited photo storage via its cloud services department for Prime subscribers, which is a big benefit in a world of constantly connected camera devices, including tablets and smartphones. Amazon also raised the price of Prime membership this year, but it has introduced a streaming music service, bulked up its video offerings through partnerships and original content creation, and now offers these additional benefits.
It’s unclear how far-reaching this new attempt to partner with outside retailers will be – Re/code reports that Amazon has had issues in the past getting others on board, including Abercrombie & Fitch and Neiman Marcus. Many are wary of giving Amazon too much access to data about their sell-through and customers, and they also have been reluctant to associate their brands with a marketplace that sells basically anything under the sun, including basically dollar store goods.
One thing is clear, however: Amazon wants you to buy Prime, and it’s probably not done giving you reasons to do so. If Prime continues to extend beyond Amazon’s border, it could be the next evolution of an airline-miles type loyalty points program, but with rewards that span the breadth of the web.