Buy with AWS: Selling the way AWS customers like to buy

As I shared early in 2024, the State of Partnership Leaders 2024 report discovered 15% of partner leaders primarily generate leads through marketplaces and directory listings. After SPIFFs (20%) and co-marketing (55%) that put directories and marketplaces in a clear third place.

That's a solid showing, especially for a relatively new - and usually free to use - channel.

But, with more and more marketplaces focusing on a new type of modern, integration-first buyer, app marketplaces are evolving beyond simply being informational aggregators of ecosystem products and services. They're becoming fully fledged, transactional, economic engines.

"Buy with AWS" is a huge step in that direction, and will potentially change the way SaaS businesses distribute their tools and services. With Buy with AWS, customers can find and evaluate software through 3rd party partner websites and apps - with the final purchase happening through AWS Marketplace.

It's a big move by Amazon - so big that it deserves an in-depth post covering the finer details of Buy with AWS, some context on why it's important, and some "good to know" aspects of how it all works.

Three reasons Buy with AWS is masterstroke from Amazon:

• "Buy with AWS" makes it easy to discover software, evaluate it, and purchase it directly through your AWS account - but the "discover" part of the journey starts on partner websites, not on AWS marketplace. It's like the very successful Amazon Associates Program - but for SaaS.
• Centralized billing and cost tracking of software then bought through AWS Marketplace gives customers a single view of their expenses, making it easier for them to manage costs and stay within budget. Creating new ways and new incentives for channel partners to add value.
• Buy with AWS helps channel partners generate qualified leads, track leads, and co-sell with AWS Marketplace, but in a more measurable way - and without lots of customer hand-holding. It puts the "self" into self-serve, enabling channel partners to influence more deals in more ways.

What is Buy with AWS?

The AWS Marketplace is a central place to purchase and manage over 40,000 software products and services. Once customers have evaluated a solution (many products offer free trials), they can purchase it and pay for it through their AWS account.

It's a fully transactional app marketplace that aggregates the value built atop AWS platform, which makes it easy for procurement teams and partners to take advantage of.

Buy with AWS builds on this infrastructure, and changes the way businesses shop for software by allowing them to discover, try, and buy software through AWS Partner sites - not just inside AWS Marketplace. "Partner sites" includes ISVs, distributors, resellers, and integration partners.

According to Jay McBain of Canalys, the evaluation process for B2B buyers involves around 28 moments - many those moments happen on vendor websites, app marketplaces, and partner websites.

The more these touchpoints can initiate a "buy" (purchase) or "try" (request demos or a free trial) decision, the higher the likelihood will be over time that customers move from research mode to procurement mode just a little bit faster. Buy with AWS can be integrated into these touchpoints - creating a "surround sound" effect for growth, product marketing, and partnerships teams.

With Buy with AWS, customers can browse and evaluate products - well as professional services - outside of AWS Marketplace and have them billed directly to their AWS account. Those "transactional triggers" can be embedded outside of the AWS marketplace, through a simple AWS button.

This creates many potential benefits for customers and partners alike.

Benefits of Buy with AWS for customers

Partner sites using Buy with AWS clearly label products available through AWS Marketplace so customers can easily try them or purchase them in a couple of clicks. Products tagged as "Available in AWS Marketplace" have a AWS button, which builds trust, and makes it easy for customers to identify products and services they can purchase with their AWS accounts.

Evaluating products

Another big benefit of Buy with AWS is the ability for customers to evaluate products before they purchase them. Through partner websites, customers can easily request demos, trials through "Try with AWS," or request custom quotes initiated through partner sites.

Depending on the product and partner, pricing can start from free, and - to close the attribution loop - customers can also request custom pricing through AWS Marketplace.

It's not a feature of "Buy with AWS" just yet, but I can see a world where ratings and reviews from AWS Marketplace are also available for partners to embed on their websites, adding social proof reducing potential risk in the eyes of buyers.

The faster and more educated customers can become, without a ton of friction, the faster they'll move from evaluation and demos to making a purchase decision.

Secure buying

Like most transactions "online" today, security is a top concern for cloud software buyers and partners alike. The Buy with AWS button enables and encourages secure buying on AWS Marketplace, through existing AWS accounts, leveraging the same security protocols AWS uses, which counteracts the potential for bad actors to obtain or misuse credit card details.

In the same way that Google's Adsense includes fraud mitigation tools, AWS Marketplace (and their cloud overall) offers a variety of governance tools to enhance trust and reduce friction.

This secure approach allows for consolidated billing through AWS, so companies can easily manage and approve each purchase and stay compliant with their company's procurement policies. Buy with AWS encourages good governance for procurement teams and buyers - especially in larger companies managing multi-million dollar AWS accounts.

Consolidated cloud billing and cost tracking

Cost tracking is a topic du jour in cloud today, with solutions like Pump emerging to help customers predict and manage cloud costs.

Consolidated billing and cost tracking are two of the biggest benefits of AWS Marketplace, and Buy with AWS further promotes the benefits of this approach through partner websites. Tracking each purchase centrally in the AWS Marketplace gives customers the ability to view their costs in aggregate, making it easier to manage expenses and stay within budget.

Instead of multiple invoices, procurement processes, and renewal processes, Buy with AWS encourages more software purchases - even those that originate outside of AWS marketplace - to be consolidated onto a single billing account.

Customers love the simplicity of this approach, and it's a big reason more cloud marketplaces - not just AWS - are becoming transactional in nature.

And, it doesn't have to be a "touchless" purchase every time - customers still have the ability to request custom pricing, and to start trials - where available - for free, through AWS marketplace. Buy with AWS is very much additive in this way - it's a bolt on capability to make the AWS experience even better.

Benefits of Buy with AWS for partners

AWS partners stand to benefit potentially the most from Buy with AWS. Distributors, resellers, and integration partners can easily promote the ISVs they care about and endorse on their own partner websites while making sure each purchase is correctly attributed to the right partners.

Lead tracking

The addition of Buy with AWS will make lead tracking in the AWS Marketplace even more efficient, helping partners manage their selling activities, optimize AWS placement on their partner websites, and ultimately generate incremental revenue from their partnership with AWS.

Partners create many of the "28 moments" I mentioned earlier - and they should be credited for the work they do. AWS marketplace already includes some lead tracking tools, and ISV partners offer integrations with platforms like Salesforce.

Buy with AWS will extend these lead tracking capabilities outside of AWS marketplace, offering more partners more reasons to promote products and services outside of AWS - while ensuring any referred sales will be correctly attributed.

Co-selling opportunities

One big benefit of being listed in AWS Marketplace ability to co-sell alongside AWS' own cloud sales teams. AWS sales teams can help you target the right customers and provide additional support to close deals. But attention from those teams needs to be earned - partner need to make it hard for AWS partner teams to ignore them.

Buy with AWS offers yet another way for partners - especially new partners - to stand out and show AWS early on that they can excel as an AWS Marketplace partner. The more touchpoints a partner can integrate Buy with AWS within, the more chances they'll have to service new and existing AWS accounts.

Co-selling "bundles" of software and services together will be made even easier through the addition of Buy with AWS. Partners will, in effect, be able to create their own "mini-marketplaces" to up-sell and cross-sell existing customers on new solutions in AWS marketplace. And, of course, to help them purchase and pay for them in a consolidated way.

Making Buy with AWS a partner advantage

That's a pretty whirlwind tour of Buy with AWS - a whirlwind tour I'll keep up to date as it grows and matures over time. This new type of AWS button, like the Amazon Associates Program (but for SaaS) is a huge opportunity for partners to get in on and win through quickly.

Amazon doesn't publish exact information on this, but millions of AWS accounts are known to be active, and AWS is one of the biggest cloud providers in the market. The reach they have is already incredible - Buy with AWS is set to extend this reach even further, creating new opportunities for customers and partners alike. The sooner you get started as a partner, the bigger your advantage will be.

I'm new to AWS Marketplace - what do I need to know?

AWS Marketplace simplifies the buying process by letting customers browse, evaluate, and purchase solutions, billed to their existing AWS accounts.

It's not a traditional app marketplace, in that the software available in it might not always integrate with each other (unlike other transactional app marketplaces Salesforce, Shopify, Atlassian), but it is quickly becoming a starting point for buyers to purchase software - particularly for customers with AWS cloud credits to use up.

How does AWS Marketplace help with cost management?

AWS Marketplace offers a centralized billing dashboard and tools like AWS Budgets and AWS Cost Explorer. These make it easy for customers to track cloud costs and understand their purchase patterns, to identify areas where they might be going over budget.

What security features does AWS have to protect customer data?

AWS has several security features to protect customer data, including physical access controls and surveillance, as well as a network architecture with physical and logical barriers. They also comply with industry standards such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

This is one of the main reasons procurement teams "lean into" AWS marketplace - it removes work-work from the purchase path, and makes governance across a growing number of software solutions easier.

How does AWS Marketplace benefit channel partners?

AWS Marketplace helps channel partners leverage their market presence to generate incremental, qualified leads, while simplifying lead tracking and increasing the chance of participating in co-selling opportunities with AWS.

High performance partners earn attention from AWS channel sales teams, who can provide additional support to help partners close deals and earn the opportunity to get referred to manage more AWS accounts.