Epic Water Filters launched in 2015 with a mission to reduce single-use plastic water bottle pollution by creating a reusable water bottle fitted with a robust, yet compact filter. To make progress on its ambitious goal, however, Epic Water Filters wanted to explore new ways to reach a wider audience. In 2016, it began offering its products on Amazon.com and experienced streamlined fulfillment and tremendous growth, expanding to a wide range of pitchers, fitted filters for popular bottle brands, and home faucet kits that are helping prevent millions of single-use plastic bottles from entering landfills.
In 2022, Epic Water Filters expanded its reach beyond Amazon.com by adding Buy with Prime to its own ecommerce site. Buy with Prime is helping Epic Water Filters continue to grow its business by offering Prime members fast, free delivery and a checkout experience they trust directly on their site.
“Buy with Prime helps us continue to expand our business on our own site, while delivering the Prime shopping experience that our customers trust and love—including fast, free shipping. Conversion on our site has increased by more than 40% since adding Buy with Prime,” says Epic Water Filters COO Oliver Crane.
Best-in-class fulfillment
As consumers continue to move online for most of their shopping needs, they have come to expect fast, free shipping. Recognizing this, the team at Epic Water Filters made meeting this shopper expectation one of their top priorities. To deliver the top-notch experience that Epic Water Filters wanted to provide its customers, COO Oliver Crane decided to enroll in Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), which leverages Amazon’s 200-plus fulfillment centers worldwide to provide fast, reliable, and low-cost fulfillment for ecommerce channels beyond Amazon.com. Working with MCF helped simplify and streamline Epic Water Filters’ order fulfillment operations, including storage and inventory, allowing the company to deliver customer orders from its ecommerce store rapidly and reliably.
“MCF addressed so many of our fulfillment challenges, allowing us to provide a great customer experience,” says Oliver. “Before Buy with Prime, it would cost too much to offer the level of service larger companies in our industry provide to shoppers. Buy with Prime makes operating like the larger companies possible for small businesses like us.”
By launching Buy with Prime, Epic Water Filters now offers Prime shopping benefits on its own site, including fast, free delivery powered by MCF. On EpicWaterFilters.com, Prime members have the option to check out with Buy with Prime, using their preferred shipping and billing details stored in their Amazon accounts for nearly all of their products. Shoppers are presented with a seamless checkout experience, while orders are automatically processed and pulled from Epic Water Filters’ existing MCF inventory.
Badge of confidence
Since adding Buy with Prime to its site, Epic Water Filters has seen a 40% increase in shopper conversion. Oliver attributes this jump to Buy with Prime’s seamless checkout experience and shoppers’ increased confidence knowing their orders are shipped for free in 1-2 days. When Prime members shop the Epic Water Filters site and see the Buy with Prime badge and checkout option, they know that they’re going to get a convenient checkout and delivery experience that they trust from Amazon. Says Oliver, “The Buy with Prime badge and Prime delivery promise add greater credibility to our DTC site, especially for shoppers who find it organically.”
But even before shoppers arrive at EpicWaterFilters.com, Oliver says “greater credibility starts when shoppers first see the company’s products paired with the Buy with Prime badge.” With the Buy with Prime marketing toolkit, Epic Water Filter can help drive shopper interest in their products with the trust of Prime, using the Buy with Prime badge across their marketing channels to attract shoppers.
Pillar of the community
While fast delivery is primarily a convenience, some shoppers seek fast delivery from Epic Water Filters out of necessity. They might need access to safe drinking water to prepare for a hurricane or when there’s a boil water advisory. “Offering shoppers the option to check out with Buy with Prime allows us to provide fast, free shipping not only to customers who want convenience, but also to customers in times of need,” says Oliver. Epic Water Filters also supports its communities through local clean-up initiatives and its Artist Series bottles, a collection that brings more awareness to artists and raises money for charity.
Offering the Prime shopping experience on its own site lets Epic Water Filters maintain control over its brand story, which has been at the forefront since launching that mission and first water bottle filter back in 2015. It also allows the company to better educate shoppers about its innovative products and proprietary filtering technology. Seeing Buy with Prime alongside the brand story and product technology is especially important for building customer trust, explains Oliver, “because we’re providing a product that filters the water people consume. They must trust our brand and product.”
For many small businesses like Epic Water Filters, the mission or product idea might come easily, but building customer trust, converting shoppers, and fulfilling orders can be significant challenges that come later. Amazon and Buy with Prime are helping Epic Water Filters streamline its fulfillment and convert shoppers with a seamless checkout and fast, free delivery. This has allowed Epic Water Filters to focus on its mission of developing great products that help reduce single-use plastic water bottle pollution, while creating meaningful relationships with customers and communities.
Offer Buy with Prime. Convert more shoppers.
This post was originally published October 05, 2022.