The idea of Amazon and PayPal partnering would have seemed impossible just a few years ago for several reasons – including the fact that eBay owned PayPal until it was forced to break up by activist investor Carl Icahn in 2015.
But at the Amazon Accelerate seller conference last week, Amazon announced expanded payment options with PayPal through its Buy with Prime solution, which lets Prime members make off-Amazon website purchases using Amazon’s checkout.
Amazon explained:
“For participating brands integrating using the Buy with Prime API, PayPal is now available at checkout after shoppers log in to their Amazon account. And starting next year, Prime members will be able to perform a one-time link of their Amazon account to their PayPal account so that Prime free, fast shipping benefits are available automatically whenever they use PayPal while shopping with Buy with Prime on participating merchants’ websites.”
Amazon provided the following statement from PayPal’s President of Global Markets Suzan Kereere: “PayPal and Amazon – two of the most loved brands in e-commerce – share a common goal of delivering exceptional, hassle-free shopping experiences for our customers. This collaboration brings the speed and reliability of Prime delivery and PayPal’s simple and convenient checkout into a single experience on participating merchant sites.”
Amazon also announced new advertising solutions with Amazon Demand-Side Platform, Google Shopping Ads, and TikTok Ads to “help merchants drive traffic to their Buy with Prime enabled items.” For example, Buy with Prime merchants will be able to display the Prime brand and real-time delivery estimates in their TikTok Ads beginning next month.
It also revealed that Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment now serves over 200,000 U.S. merchants, with a 70% year-over-year increase in total orders fulfilled by the service so far this year.
Amazon also announced a new generative AI-based selling assistant codenamed Project Amelia that provides sellers with “the answers, advice, and tools they need to succeed”:
“Sellers simply ask Project Amelia a question, and they get a response with accurate information and guidance, allowing sellers to manage their business more easily and efficiently. Project Amelia is an always-available, expert partner to sellers, learning their unique businesses so it can offer personalized insights and support, and available from any page within Seller Central, at any time.”
Project Amelia is now available in beta to a subset of sellers and will progressively roll out to additional sellers in the coming weeks.
Amazon also announced a new generative AI-powered tool Video Generator to create engaging video ads; and four new customer analytics tools to help them better understand their customers – “what they’re looking for, what compels them to purchase, and how to grow their brand to reach new customers.” Amazon said the AI tools build on Brand Tailored Promotions, a tool launched last year to help sellers offer exclusive discounts to specific audiences:
- Customer Journey Analytics helps sellers identify trends and pain points in the customer journey to improve the shopping experience and boost conversions.
- Enhanced Tailored Audiences organizes customers by interests, aiding in cross-selling and attracting new buyers.
- Business Planner, an AI tool, highlights key growth opportunities using sales and performance data.
- And being piloted in the coming weeks, Custom Analytics will let sellers track key business metrics, from sales to ads, for a comprehensive view.
Amazon summarized news coming out of the Accelerate seller conference on Seller Central, and it published videos of its keynote sessions on YouTube, such as the general session from September 18th.
