After recently reaching an agreement with the European Commission, Amazon have announced updates to their Prime eligibility and badge criteria as well as their Featured Offer criteria coming into effect as of June 2023.
Who is affected?
Amazon stores in Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Belgium will be affected by this announcement.
What is changing?
The main changes will surround offers from all sellers across the various fulfilment channels (fulfilled by Amazon or Merchant) and Amazon retail. Previously, better placement was almost guaranteed by having stock in FBA or seller fulfilled Prime rather than Merchant fulfilled orders.
The new Amazon EU eligibility criteria
To qualify, offers will need to meet ‘certain customer experience requirements’ which are determined from Prime customer experiences surrounding delivery speed and reliability, tracking, customer returns and customer service.
Additionally, sellers wishing to enrol Merchant fulfilled offers into the Prime program may choose to use alternative logistic providers and negotiate their own terms directly, ‘as long as delivery tracking information is available to Amazon tracking systems and Prime requirements are met’.
Amazon will provide more detailed guidance regarding the new criteria in the coming months and further details on the FAQ are available here.
Featured Offer Criteria
Amazon have ensured that ‘the criteria used to determine the Featured Offer are non-discriminatory and treat sellers and Amazon retail equally. Eligibility for Prime and the Prime badge won’t be a criterion when determining the Featured Offer. Prime will continue to offer free and fast delivery which are factors that customers value and therefore are relevant in determining the Featured Offer’.
For more details on Amazon’s agreement with European Commission you can visit https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/policy/amazons-statement-on-the-commitments-agreed-with-the-european-commission and Europa.eu https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_7777
