Buy with Prime and MCF improvements announced – we dive deeper into the new DTC Enhancements
Amazon Accelerate, the retail giant’s annual Seller conference, is the season of new announcements – and one of the biggest this year was the series of updates to the DTC portfolio – those tools designed to help brands grow across their own Amazon stores and beyond. So, what’s new?
With updates to their Buy with Prime and Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF) services, the focus is on improving both merchant and shopper experiences.
How could these new tools fit into your wider Amazon strategy?
Expanding Sales Channels beyond Amazon
Amazon’s Buy with Prime and MCF are part of its push to help sellers expand outside the marketplace, reaching customers through their own websites, other selling sites and social media.
Obviously, both initiatives present a great opportunity for brands looking to scale across multiple platforms – but the real challenge lies in execution.
Buy with Prime leverages the trust of the Prime brand to increase traffic and conversions on your other DTC (direct-to-customer) sites while, with MCF, Amazon handles your fulfilment, picking, packing and shipping orders from any channel, not just Amazon.
For brands juggling multiple sales channels, the potential to simplify the logistics process is a potent draw.
But, while Amazon’s tools are powerful, they don’t manage themselves – effective growth across these channels still requires a clear strategy, sharp execution and constant optimisation.
Our take
These tools can definitely help you reach new customers, but how effective they are for your brand depends on how well you integrate them into your overall sales strategy.
For brands planning to make use of Buy with Prime, MCF or both, the starting point is to optimise your presence across all these platforms and implement these tools so they work together seamlessly to drive results.
Buy with Prime – Growing, but still needs a strong strategy
Let’s look in more detail at Buy with Prime.
Launched in 2022, it’s been growing fast – helping DTC Sellers attract Prime members with Prime’s fast, free delivery, easy returns and trusted status. In fact, in 2024 alone Buy with Prime saw a 45% increase in orders and those using it reported an average 16% increase in revenue per shopper.
For Prime members, it’s an easy win.
For brands? It’s a bit more complex.
Getting Buy with Prime set up is just the beginning – you still need a strong strategy to drive traffic, optimise your checkout flow and make sure your fulfilment works like clockwork.
What’s new with Buy with Prime?
Amazon announced new ways for Buy with Prime merchants to boost traffic and lower customer acquisition costs – of which, our two standouts are:
Amazon DSP for Buy with Prime
This tool allows you to run ad campaigns using Amazon’s shopping signals to remarket to customers across third-party apps and websites. Over 80% of merchants using it report meeting or exceeding their ROAS (return on ad spend) goals.
TikTok Ads with Delivery Estimates
From October 2024, Buy with Prime merchants can include real-time Prime delivery estimates in their TikTok ads, helping to increase conversion by giving customers more confidence in when they’ll receive their orders.
Our take
Buy with Prime can boost your site’s performance, but it won’t do the heavy lifting on its own – you need to work on designing and optimising your customer’s journey, so the tool can work to its full potential.
And the new enhancements? To get the best out of all the traffic and maximise your return on ad spend, make sure you’ve got a watertight Amazon Ads strategy in place that aligns with your brand’s overall goals.
Multi-Channel Fulfilment: Are you ready for faster delivery?
Also stepping up its game is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF), with the news that standard delivery times have been slashed from 5 days to 3 days at no additional cost, meaning faster delivery speeds and happier customers.
MCF also now comes with fast delivery badges for merchant websites, similar to the Prime badge, to boost shopper confidence.
And, again from October 2024, MCF merchants will be able to show an estimated delivery time in their Google Shopping ads, Google search results and TikTok ads to boost conversions.
This is all fantastic news – but do make sure your brand is well prepared.
Faster shipping means more pressure to keep your inventory well-stocked and your logistics streamlined.
If your supply chain isn’t up to speed? You could miss out on sales opportunities or end up with out-of-stock items.
Our take
Faster fulfilment is always a win for customers – to make sure it’s as good for your brand, you must make sure your inventory management and supply chain operations are up to the task.
So, what’s our verdict overall?
There’s no doubt that the new, enhanced Buy with Prime and MCF offerings are powerful tools for brands looking to scale across channels and improve customer experiences.
But, like any tool, they’re only as good as the strategy behind them.
Love some expert advice? To chat through how to get the most out of these tools, and ensure your brand can grow across Amazon, your own website and beyond, get in touch with the team.