Amazon Opens Shop Direct to External Retailers — AI Agents Now Buy on Your Behalf from Other Sites

Amazon Launches Feed Integration for Shop Direct

Amazon Expands Shop Direct To Other Retailers

Amazon is widening access to Shop Direct, a program that surfaces products from outside retailers and allows customers to buy directly

On March 11, 2026, Amazon announced a major expansion of its Shop Direct program. The company introduced a new mechanism that allows external retailers to connect their product catalogs to Amazon through third-party product feeds.

The supported feed integration partners are Feedonomics, Salsify, and CEDCommerce, with further expansion planned. Amazon's own merchant portal is also set to launch soon. Shop Direct is currently available to all U.S. customers on Amazon.com, the Amazon Shopping app, mobile browsers, and the AI assistant "Rufus."

Background and Industry Trends

Shop Direct is a program Amazon launched in 2025 that displays products in search results even when Amazon itself does not carry the inventory, directing customers to external retailers' sites. According to research by Jungle Scout and CivicScience, the majority of U.S. consumers begin their product searches on Amazon, and the company is working to further strengthen its position as the "starting point for shopping."

With this expansion, Shop Direct now covers "over 100 million products from more than 400,000 stores." Amanda Doerr, Amazon's VP of Core Shopping, stated in the official announcement that "product feeds allow merchants to sync inventory, pricing, and catalogs in real time, gaining meaningful traffic and sales while maintaining their customer relationships."

However, the program has also sparked controversy from its early stages. In January 2026, more than 180 small businesses protested that their products had been listed without consent. Products from merchants operating on Shopify and WooCommerce were appearing on Shop Direct without their agreement. The feed integration support is positioned as an improvement that enables "merchant-led participation" in response to this criticism.

How the AI Agent "Buy for Me" Works

At the core of Shop Direct is the AI agent "Buy for Me" feature. When customers find an external product on Amazon, they can choose either the "Shop Direct" button to navigate to the external site, or the "Buy for Me" button to have Amazon's AI complete the purchase on their behalf.

The Buy for Me flow works as follows: when a customer taps the button, they confirm their shipping address, taxes, shipping costs, and payment method on Amazon's checkout page. Then, Amazon's agentic AI uses encrypted customer information to complete the purchase on the external site. Orders can be tracked in the "Buy for Me Orders" tab within Amazon's "Order History."

This mechanism eliminates the need for customers to create accounts on external sites, and is expected to reduce cart abandonment rates. Tens of millions of products are reportedly Buy for Me-enabled.

Impact and Strategies for E-commerce Merchants

For e-commerce merchants, Shop Direct can serve as a powerful customer acquisition engine. The ability to reach Amazon's hundreds of millions of customers is a significant advantage. For merchants dealing in niche categories or brand-exclusive products, the opportunity to convert Amazon search "dead ends" into conversion paths to their own sites is particularly attractive.

Getting started is straightforward: contact your account representative at Feedonomics, Salsify, or CEDCommerce, or reach out to shopdirect@amazon.com.

On the other hand, data handling requires careful consideration. Through off-site referrals, Amazon gains insight into which products, price ranges, and promotions resonate with customers. This information could potentially be used for ad targeting or Buy with Prime solicitation.

The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) restricts gatekeepers' use of third-party data, and in the U.S., the program is expected to attract attention from regulators from an antitrust perspective. Merchants should thoroughly review the scope of data sharing and terms of use before participating.

Additionally, differences in return policies, shipping timelines, and loyalty program handling compared to Amazon's direct sales need to be clearly communicated to customers.

Conclusion

Amazon's Shop Direct expansion symbolizes the company's evolution from an "e-commerce store" to a "shopping starting point and AI concierge." As Google Shopping, Shopify's Shop app, and social platforms compete to capture purchase intent, Amazon is leveraging agentic AI to build a world where "shopping starts on Amazon, regardless of where the box ships from."

Key developments to watch include the official launch timeline of the merchant portal, the pace of feed partner expansion, and whether Shop Direct and Buy with Prime will eventually be integrated. E-commerce merchants are now at a stage where they need to carefully evaluate both the opportunities and risks this new channel presents.