Amazon will promote software program with a “Purchase with AWS” button for accomplice websites

Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), delivers a keynote address during the AWS re:Invent conference on December 3, 2024 in Las Vegas.

Noah Berger | Getty Images

In 2022 Amazon introduced the “Buy with Prime” button, allowing Premium subscribers to shop with their Amazon account even when shopping on other sites.

Now the company is bringing a similar concept to its cloud computing business.

At his Reinvent conference on Wednesday in Las Vegas Amazon Web Services said a new “Buy with AWS” button will be available to cloud software partners to embed on their websites to enable customers to pay.

AWS is the leading cloud infrastructure provider Microsoft And Googlewhich generated over $100 billion in revenue over the past four quarters. Prominent cloud software providers such as Databricks, Wiz and working day Run your products on AWS and other clouds and now sell services directly to users with AWS accounts using the new button. The checkout option allows buyers to benefit from previously agreed discounts.

“This is about increasing customer and partner loyalty and ultimately increasing win rates,” said Matt Yanchyshyn, AWS vice president of marketplace and partner services, in an interview with CNBC.

For software companies, the only requirement is that they must sell their products through the AWS Marketplace. Amazon has cut fees to 3% or less in some cases this year after Microsoft and Google cut their rates.

On the consumer side, Amazon has an estimated 180 million Prime subscribers in the US. The $139 annual subscription includes fast shipping as well as two-hour grocery delivery and digital services like Prime Video and Amazon Music.

Retailers looking to take advantage of Prime's huge customer base can pay a fee to add “Buy with Prime” to their website and use Amazon's fulfillment network when purchases are made through the button. Amazon said in September that Buy with Prime orders from retailer sites were up more than 45% this year compared to last year.

The key difference between Buy with AWS is that embedding is free for software companies. Because the services run on AWS, the purchases drive more revenue for Amazon.

“Buy with Prime is a separate initiative, but we are very close to this team and collaborate on the technical implementation,” said Yanchyshyn. He added: “We definitely share our track record,” but “Buy with AWS” is “ultimately a very different use case.”

Yanchyshyn said Matt Garman, who was named head of AWS earlier this year, is focused on putting partners at the center of the customer journey.

“This is not lip service. He’s serious,” Yanchyshyn said.

Databricks has enjoyed clean integration with Microsoft's cloud since Microsoft began selling a service called Azure Databricks in 2018. Setting up Databricks on AWS was more complicated, said David Meyer, senior vice president of product management at the data analytics software startup.

Buying with AWS should result in a higher share of revenue from Amazon deployments, he said.

“We should really see an acceleration of people using it on AWS because it’s so easy,” Meyer said. “I would say this will give AWS an advantage over other clouds because AWS will be simpler than the others, similar to how Azure has been simpler for Databricks in the past.”

Workday plans to use the button in its Adaptive Planning product, which emerged from its $1.5 billion acquisition of Adaptive Insights in 2018. The company, which sells financial and human resources software, wants to find out whether sourcing is quicker when buyers use the Get Started button through the AWS Marketplace.

“Can we get software into the hands of business users faster? That’s the theory we tested with this feature,” said Matthew Brandt, senior vice president of global partners at Workday.

Brandt said if the evaluation goes well, Workday could use the button for additional products.

“We have buyers who don’t know us that well but are very familiar with AWS,” he said. “It validates Workday as a potential vendor.”

Ed Anderson, vice president of industry researcher Gartner, said he wouldn't be surprised to see other cloud providers introduce purchase buttons on third-party websites.

“Generally everything is positive,” he said.

REGARD: The cloud computing environment remains “very healthy,” says Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs