SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 24, 2026--
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced two new Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) offerings designed to help merchants selling in the U.S. grow across sales channels: a new way to add fast, free Prime delivery to their websites at no additional cost and a discount program on fulfillment fees. ASCS brings together Amazon’s freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping capabilities for businesses of all types and sizes.
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Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF), the third-party logistics (3PL) service within ASCS, now lets new and existing MCF merchants add Prime delivery to their websites, helping drive first-time and repeat purchases while allowing them to retain their existing returns and customer service experiences. Separately, ASCS launched the MCF Preferred Pricing Program that allows FBA sellers to save up to 25% on fulfillment fees for orders placed across their own websites, marketplaces, and social media channels. These offerings complement ASCS’ Buy with Prime service, which combines fast, free Prime delivery with shopper customer service and easy returns. Together, these offerings help merchants increase sales and lower fulfillment costs wherever they sell.
Helping Merchants Drive Sales with Fast, Free Prime Delivery
ASCS has made fast, free Prime delivery available to MCF merchants without any additional costs beyond standard MCF fees. Merchants can add this shipping option more than 70% faster on average compared to enabling standalone Buy with Prime, and do not need to change their payments processing, order management, or store policies. With this new MCF shipping option, Prime membership is verified after checkout, so shoppers don’t need to log in to Amazon to receive fast, free Prime delivery, resulting in a simpler experience that drives more purchases. Among early merchant adopters, more than 40% of eligible orders on average have shipped with Prime delivery, demonstrating strong early uptake of the option. Merchants can enable fast, free Prime delivery through the Amazon MCF and Buy with Prime app for Shopify in minutes, with additional integration options through Amazon’s Selling Partner API, and partners like Fulfil, LingXing, and WebBee launching soon.
“When our shoppers see Prime delivery on our website, it changes their confidence level, especially first-time buyers,” said Gabriella Luksander, General Manager at Skinnies Instant Lifts. “Since enabling it, we've seen a nearly 10% increase in sales, orders go out in about a day and a half, and 'where is my order' inquiries have nearly disappeared. For a small team, that reliability makes all the difference.”
Merchants Who Ship More, Save More, and Can Reinvest in Growth
As Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) sellers grow their businesses across sales channels, ASCS is helping them lower their fulfillment costs, with savings that grow the more they ship. Available now, the MCF Preferred Pricing Program combines a discount on MCF fulfillment fees with FBA credits on each unit shipped. Together, merchants can save 15 to 25% on fulfillment fees for the first six months. The program requires no contracts or long-term commitments, offers one-click enrollment, and discounts apply automatically when merchants ship. For merchants focused on reducing operational costs, these savings can be reinvested into fulfilling more orders, expanding to new channels, or scaling their inventory. Merchants can sign up for the MCF Preferred Pricing Program through Seller Central.
“Merchants keep telling us the same thing: they want to use our logistics everywhere they sell because we’re fast, reliable, and help them manage their inventory in one place,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President of Amazon Supply Chain Services. “Now we're giving merchants two ways to grow: fast, free Prime delivery on their own site at no added cost, and deeper fulfillment discounts the more they ship with us.”
Helping Merchants Sell More, Manage Inventory, and Grow Faster
MCF enables hundreds of thousands of merchants in 11 countries to leverage Amazon's fulfillment network to pick, pack, ship, and deliver orders across Amazon.com, their own websites, other online retailers, and social media channels. By using a single pool of inventory, sellers who fulfilled orders in the U.S. for both MCF and FBA reduced out-of-stock rates by an average of 19% and improved inventory turnover by an average of 12%. Merchants have also reported over an 18% increase in sales or revenue since adding Amazon MCF to their off-Amazon retail channels.
ASCS also offers Buy with Prime for merchants who want Amazon to manage more of their off-Amazon shopping experience. With Buy with Prime, merchants can display the Prime badge and offer fast, free Prime delivery, with Amazon handling the post-purchase experience, including shopper customer service and returns.
Businesses can go here to learn more about enabling Prime delivery on their own website and here for more information about the MCF Preferred Pricing Program.
About Amazon Supply Chain Services
Amazon Supply Chain Services gives businesses of all types and sizes access to the freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping capabilities Amazon has built, refined, and proven at scale over decades, supporting Amazon sellers and other businesses regardless of where they sell. By extending the global infrastructure, technology, and operational expertise behind Amazon's own supply chain, ASCS helps businesses improve performance, reduce complexity, and operate more efficiently.
Available now, Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) customers who enroll in Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF), along with the hundreds of thousands of U.S. merchants already using MCF, can add the Prime badge and delivery to their websites at no additional cost
Available now, Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) customers who enroll in Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF), along with the hundreds of thousands of U.S. merchants already using MCF, can add the Prime badge and delivery to their websites at no additional cost
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut WNBA franchise will play its final game in the state before it moves to Houston next year after an impressive run for the first independently owned team in the league.
Texas will be the third stop for the franchise. The team moved to Connecticut in 2003 from Orlando. The Sun made three trips to the WNBA Finals, hosted a record four All-Star Games and Connecticut was the first team to turn a profit in the league's history. The team, which was purchased for $10 million, was sold for $300 million.
“It’s been an emotional week,” team president Jen Rizzotti told The Associated Press. “The silver lining of the chapter closing is it forces you to look at what this franchise has meant for over two decades and make sure the story is told and the legacy lasts forever.”
The franchise is moving to the home of the former Comets, who won the first four WNBA titles. Its time in Connecticut will end Thursday when the Sun face Toronto in the regular-season finale.
Rizzotti will move to Houston with the team as the president of basketball operations. She said that 75-80% of the front office staff will also make the move.
“It’s exciting to celebrate the past while also being emotional that it’s ending,” she said. “Thursday is a celebration of our fans with fan appreciation night. One game isn’t enough to show the appreciation of how much they poured into the franchise for 24 years.”
The WNBA seems to have outgrown the Sun with the new collective bargaining agreement demanding standard amenities for all teams that include state-of-the-art practice facilities.
The Mohegan Tribe, which owns the franchise, sold the team to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million.
The Sun had an offer for $325 million from a group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca that would have moved the franchise to Boston. The WNBA basically blocked that deal from happening by saying that “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams.”
Now the franchise is becoming the first to relocate since San Antonio moved to Las Vegas in 2017.
“It’s sad,” said former Connecticut Sun CEO Mitchell Etess in a phone interview. "I put a lot into it and to see it go is sad. It did confirm that it was a good business decision to bring it there in the first place. If I was still CEO I’d recommend we sell it for that much profit."
Being in the smallest market in the WNBA led to difficulties for the franchise to attract top free agents. Over the past two years the team has gone from being a WNBA Finals contender to rebuilding mode.
Still, despite a 10-33 record, the Sun were drawing nearly 8,700 fans a game in the 10,000-seat arena.
Throughout the season Connecticut honored some of the franchise's iconic players, including Jonquel Jones, Jasmine Thomas, Alyssa Thomas, Tina Charles along with coaches Curt Miller and Mike Thibault. The group joined other Connecticut standouts — Margo Dydek, Katie Douglas, Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones — in the rafters at the arena.
Thibault was the last of the group to be honored as Connecticut hosted the event after last Sunday's game against Minnesota. Whalen, Charles and McWilliams-Franklin were in attendance for that contest as well as dozens of other former employees and front office staffers.
They told stories and stayed well after the game reminiscing about the franchise. Rizzotti expects a similar celebration after Thursday's finale.
“I know we’re going really blow the game out,” she said of celebration plans. “Lot of things we’re giving away, postgame mingles and autograph opportunities. When everybody leaves we’ll just pop Champagne on the court for the last time. I'm proud of what we built.”
Etess remembers trying to sell NBA Commissioner David Stern on moving a franchise to the Mohegan Sun. The late commissioner was concerned about putting a team in a casino, but as it turns out, he was ahead of his time.
“There was a lot of excitement at the beginning, still a casino and a professional sports team being together wasn’t well received everywhere,” Etess recalled in a phone conversation. “David Stern took a lot of the hard questions when that was happening. In retrospect, it was an icebreaker for a lot of the gambling stuff that happened since. The tribe was proud of having the team as it was great to bring national attention to the state and casino.”
The Mohegan Tribe bought the team for $10 million and with the WNBA in CBA negotiations the franchise had a few months to get everything ready to start in 2003. Thibault remembers when he was hired as the coach in January, the franchise had literally nothing.
Thibault said he had to order basketballs, uniforms and even sports bras for his players. The franchise quickly turned into contenders, reaching the WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005.
Thibault joked that when the team first started fans came to games to cheer on former UConn players when they came to town, but soon they became fans of the franchise.
“The first year, we didn’t have as good attendance as we had hoped, but that changed quickly,” Etess said. “We didn't give tickets away. After the second year we were always up there in total attendance for many, many years.”
The Sun became the first team in WNBA history to make a profit when they made it happen in 2010.
“It meant a lot to us,” Etess said. “We really focused on doing everything right, trying to run the team professionally.”
Etess is sad to see the state lose its last professional team in an area that has been a women's basketball hotbed for so long.
“It's odd that the league didn’t want the team to stay in Connecticut,” he said. “Connecticut is such a crucial part of women’s basketball. The state that loves women’s basketball isn’t going to have a pro team, doesn’t feel right to me.”
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
FILE - Connecticut Sun guard Leila Lacan (47) celebrates a play with teammates during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - Fans show their support for the return to Connecticut of Diana Taurasi as well as the Connecticut Sun, during WNBA basketball team's home opener in Uncasville, Conn., Saturday, May 22, 2004. (AP Photo/John Spivey, File)
FILE - Connecticut Sun's Tina Charles (31), Renee Montgomery (21) and Kara Lawson (20) return to the court after a timeout in the second half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Fever in Uncasville, Conn., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - WNBA League President Val Ackerman, left, and Mohegan Tribe Tribal Chairman Mark Brown hold a basketball shirt of the type that will be worn by the WNBA team Connecticut Sun during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)
