Amazon has announced that it will give ecommerce merchants free software for managing shoppers’ orders on and off its platform, as the retailer extends its reach.
The company will be ending monthly fees for Veeqo, a shipping software firm it recently acquired, for sellers. The company is also offering the software to merchants when they fulfil orders via rival ecommerce platforms including Shopify, eBay and Etsy.
“The acquisition should improve Amazon’s ability to compete against Shopify,” D.A Davidson analyst Tom Forte told Reuters on the move.
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Forte pointed out however that Amazon’s “primary focus” remained sales through its own marketplace.
In April, the ecommerce behemoth announced its “Buy with Prime” feature to let its sellers leverage the company’s rapid shipping service on their direct-to-consumer websites.
Veeqo founder, Matt Warren, said in an interview that the move was not made in order to spite Shopify. “Amazon takes a very long-term view that anything that helps sellers eventually will be good for Amazon,” he said.
Veeqo, which gives access to discounted shipping rates, will be free for merchants in the US and United Kingdom, Amazon announced.
