Amazon is expanding its Shop Direct program, which directs U.S. customers from Amazon's search results and AI assistant to third-party merchant websites to complete purchases. The expansion includes new support for real-time product data feeds from specific providers, giving Amazon broader access to external inventory and pricing information.
This move increases brand exposure for merchants but also provides Amazon with valuable data on competing products and shopping trends. The program integrates with Amazon's AI shopping features, including an AI agent that can complete purchases on external sites on the customer's behalf.
The main topics covered are the expansion of the Shop Direct program, the integration of third-party product feeds, the use of AI in shopping and checkout, and the strategic benefits and data insights for Amazon.
Amazon is expanding access to a program called Shop Direct that lets U.S. customers discover and buy products not sold in its own online store.
The retail giant on Wednesday said it will now support third-party product feeds, which merchants use to provide information about their inventory, pricing, and catalog to other partners. With this information, Amazon can direct shoppers to a merchant’s website via its search results or its AI shopping assistant, Rufus, and even let customers use AI to make a purchase.
The company has added support for third-party product feeds from Feedonomics, Salsify, and CEDCommerce, which provide Amazon access to merchants’ inventory and product information in real time. More feed providers will be supported in time, and an Amazon merchant portal with a merchant-direct feed is said to be coming soon.
In February 2025, Amazon began beta testing a new shopping feature that would link to a retailer’s website when its own search results didn’t include the product the customer was seeking. Customers would see the product information on Amazon, but could click through to the retailer’s site to learn more, check pricing, and view delivery options. Customers would be notified that they were leaving Amazon’s website so they wouldn’t be confused into thinking they were buying from the company itself.
The program was being offered to a range of brands and wasn’t limited to partners using Buy with Prime — a way to offer checkout using a customer’s saved payment information on Amazon.
While the move to be included on Amazon could certainly boost a brand’s exposure and potential sales, it could also give Amazon insights into which brands, products and price points are most appealing to customers. The company could use this information to improve its own business by providing data on competing products, tracking trends, identifying potential Buy with Prime partners and more.
It could also help Amazon solidify itself as the starting point for product search.
The company says it now supports Buy for Me, which has Amazon use an AI agent to complete purchases, on third-party merchant sites as well.
The AI bot handles the entire purchase process on the customer’s behalf, and the customer simply has to confirm their order details on the checkout page, including their delivery address, taxes, shipping fees, and payment method. Amazon’s AI then completes the checkout from the merchant’s website using the required information.
Customers can track these orders in the same “Your Orders” tab where they track their Amazon purchases, or in a special “Buy for Me Orders” tab.
Shop Direct is live for U.S. customers on Amazon.com, in the Amazon mobile app, and in Amazon’s Rufus AI assistant.
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