Buy with Prime

Enabling Amazon Prime members to use their subscription benefits anywhere they shop

The Challenge

While many brands sell through Amazon’s marketplace, they also operate their own direct-to-consumer sites, where checkout can be slower and shipping times longer. Amazon Pay aimed to bridge that gap by letting customers use their Amazon account for fast, familiar checkout across the web. This initiative came directly from customer feedback on how Amazon could improve the value of their Prime membership. Research consistently highlighted a key request: shoppers wanted the same trusted benefits they already enjoyed with Amazon Prime (including free shipping and easy returns) everywhere they shopped, even when purchasing off Amazon.

To meet this need, Amazon launched Buy with Prime—a program that brings the best of Amazon checkout directly to brand websites. Shoppers can see trusted Amazon reviews, check out using their Amazon account information, seamlessly track orders, get next day Prime shipping, and easily manage returns. By putting customer needs first, this program expanded the value of Prime memberships and set a new standard for commerce beyond Amazon’s marketplace.

High level flow of the Buy with Prime checkout experience

My Role

As the senior UX designer, I led the early stages of the Buy with Prime project, shaping a seamless, high-impact checkout experience across mobile and web. I translated customer insights into actionable designs, developed cohesive UI patterns, and ensured the experience aligned with Amazon Prime’s brand standards. Working closely with PMs, TPMs, and UX designers, I helped define the vision and plan for a launch that balanced business goals with customer delight.

My responsibilities included:

  • Partnering with internal designers and the Amazon Prime team to align UI patterns and flows with brand guidelines and upcoming feature launches, ensuring a consistent, intuitive experience.

  • Working with product and engineering to prioritize features, delivering a launch that was both achievable and highly engaging for customers.

  • Conducting usability testing of prototypes to eliminate friction and confusion in checkout and shipping flows, ensuring the experience was effortless for shoppers.

  • Creating detailed research and design documentation to support smooth handoffs, future iterations, and cross-team alignment.

Process

This project required close collaboration across multiple Amazon teams, as we were introducing existing brands like Amazon Prime in a completely new context. Key challenges I focused on included:

Defining lovable Scope. The initial vision included complex scenarios, such as carts with both Prime-eligible and non-eligible products. I tested early concepts with users to identify which features were essential and which added confusion. These insights helped the product and engineering teams simplify scope while still delivering a delightful and functional experience.

Balancing Competing Priorities. Both the Prime and Amazon Pay teams wanted their branding prominently featured in the limited checkout interface. I ran multiple design iterations, informed by user research, to ensure that visual hierarchy and written content prioritized clarity without diluting either brand.

Ensuring Customer Clarity. Buying with Prime off-Amazon was a completely new experience for shoppers. I designed interface patterns, messaging, and informational content that clearly explained the program’s benefits, how Prime shipping and returns worked, and what users could expect—building confidence and trust in every step.

One of the biggest challenges on this project was aligning all the stakeholders on brand and messaging. This shows variations of the banner we explored with different band prominence.

Example of launched checkout experience for Buy with Prime

Impact

Buy with Prime enables third-party brands to grow their own websites presence while reaching Amazon’s massive Prime membership audience. After launching with a limited beta pool, the program expanded to all US merchants within a year, offering shoppers fast, free Prime shipping and seamless checkout using their Amazon account. On average, Buy with Prime drives a 25% increase in conversion on third-party sites. It also simplifying fulfillment for businesses as Amazon handles storage, picking, packing, delivery, payments, and returns through Amazon Pay and Fulfillment by Amazon. Merchants are excited about converting more sales and shipments more easily, while Prime members love that they can use their Prime benefits on more destinations. As of 2024, 95% of shoppers who use Buy with Prime indicate they are very likely to use it again.