Prime keeps the bar up

In an increasingly competitive ecommerce world, delivery remains a key driver in the online shopping experience. That remains the case into 2026 and we have a number of observations to share based on what we have seen over the past year or two with our ecommerce work.

Many direct websites either charge for shipping, include it as free, or tier it as free for orders above a certain amount. On Amazon, it tends to be either free shipping from the merchant, a modest shipping fee from the merchant, or Prime free shipping from Amazon.

Amazon’s Prime delivery has certainly raised the bar in terms of shopper expectation, and one response we’ve observed is with eBay really upping their game over the last 3 or so years. Purchases on eBay now often dispatch as promptly as Amazon Prime delivery, and customers are now conditioned to expect free and very prompt delivery.

When selling products on Amazon, it is our view that displaying the Prime badge will improve sell-through of that product by up to 3 or 4 times. Without that, conversion drops, hand in hand with sales.

So, Prime it should be to meet the expectations of today’s online shopper, provided margins allow a brand to sustain Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilment By Amazon) pick, pack, dispatch and storage fees. The benefits of customer service and Prime eligibility certainly help to smooth the selling process and boost sales. Provided a satisfactory balance can be struck between the margin remaining and Amazon’s fulfilment costs, sales can be successful as well as margin-positive.

We typically recommend offering free shipping where possible on a brand’s direct website and, on Amazon, testing Prime to gauge its effectiveness in driving sales. For testing Prime, pallets don’t need to be sent in to begin with, as no minimum quantity is needed. A further recommendation is to test with a few boxes of product to start with, and then replenish when necessary provided the financials are making sense.

Remaining in stock with Prime is critical. Visibility on Amazon search can be lost with out of stock products, and this can cause sales to take a step backwards, requiring some time to then recover once re-stocked. Managing Prime is as much about restocking in advance as it is not over-stocking and incurring extra Amazon storage fees.

Shoppers continue to expect free and fast shipping, and without Prime, products can sell with less velocity, slowing sales growth. Amazon Prime delivery has raised the bar and this year it is remaining high, but shipping is best viewed as a lever which can be used rather than a barrier to sale.