AllSaints, a high-end British fashion retailer, has started offering Amazon Prime members free shipping, representing the first time perks associated with the $99 annual membership have become available on third-party sites.
Amazon announced the deal today at a conference called Money2020, reports Re/Code.
The deal is closely associated with Amazon’s payment services, which allows customers on third-party sites to check-out using their Amazon credentials. Amazon Prime customers visiting AllSaints.com (in the U.S. or Europe) will be prompted to use their Amazon account to receive free next-day shipping with no minimum purchase.
That’s only a slightly sweeter offer than regular customers receive since the site typically offers free two-day shipping on all orders, and free next-day shipping on all orders over $200 (and spending less would be difficult). While this marks the first time a retailer is offering its customer Amazon Prime benefits, Amazon’s payment services have been available on other third-party sites for some time.
Amazon is not handling the packaging or the shipping, so the boxes will not be wrapped in the familiar Amazon Prime packing tape. That is likely an important aspect to this deal since retailers, especially high-end brands, like to maintain their image throughout the whole when interacting with their customers.
Re/Code reports that it’s been difficult for Amazon to convince other retailers to sign up for this program, known internally as Prime Pass.
According to its sources, both Abercrombie & Fitch and Neiman Marcus declined to advertise their products on Amazon or offer shipping perks to Prime customers on their sites. Instead, those companies are working with ShopRunner, which sells a $79 annual membership that gives its customers free, two-day shipping on orders placed on a wide range of partnering e-commerce sites.
AllSaints is also maintaining a storefront on Amazon.com, but when customers click on specific items, it redirects them to the AllSaints site. Amazon does not take a cut of each sale, but rather charges AllSaints a small advertising fee each time one of its customers clicks through from Amazon.com to AllSaints.com, Re/Code reports.
Amazon gains a fair amount of advertising from the deal for Prime, which has as many as 50 million members worldwide.
When shopping on AllSaints.com, the homepage advertises that it is now accepting Amazon as a form of payment, and when customers login, they can either enter their existing account information or their Amazon username and password. AllSaints also accepts PayPal and the regular suspects, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express, so the deal is not exclusive, although those brands don’t receive as much attention.
There’s a logical reason for that: AllSaints said Amazon customers are 34 percent more likely to complete their purchase after placing items in the shopping cart than non-Amazon customers.
Deals like this that could make Amazon’s Prime program the default VIP membership of the Internet, but it is unclear if there is enough retailers, like AllSaints, are willing to put aside any potential brands conflicts to work with such a strong partner.
