Amazon expands feature allowing shoppers to buy products from external retail websites

Amazon is expanding access to a program called Shop Direct, which allows customers in the United States to find and purchase products not sold through Amazon's online marketplace.

The company said on Wednesday that it is now adding support for third-party product feeds, which merchants use to share details about their inventory, pricing, and product catalogues with outside partners. With access to that information, Amazon can point shoppers to a merchant's own website through its search results or through its AI shopping assistant, Rufus, and can also allow customers to use AI to complete a purchase.

Amazon has now added support for third-party product feeds from Feedonomics, Salsify, and CedCommerce, giving the company real-time access to merchants' inventory and product data. The company said more feed providers will be supported over time, and an Amazon merchant portal featuring a merchant-direct feed is also expected to launch soon.

Back in February 2025, Amazon began beta testing a new shopping feature that would direct customers to a retailer's website when Amazon's search results did not include the product they were looking for. In those cases, shoppers could still view product information on Amazon, but then click through to the retailer's site to get more details, check current pricing, and explore delivery options. Amazon also made clear that customers would be notified when they were leaving its platform, so there would be no confusion about whether the purchase was being made directly from Amazon.

The program was made available to a variety of brands. It was not restricted only to companies using Buy with Prime, Amazon's service that allows merchants to offer checkout with a customer's saved Amazon payment details.

Although being featured on Amazon could clearly help brands gain more visibility and increase potential sales, it could also give Amazon valuable insight into which products, brands, and pricing levels attract the most customer interest. That information could then be used to strengthen Amazon's own business by helping it compare competing products, monitor consumer trends, identify possible Buy with Prime partners, and more.

The program could also further reinforce Amazon's role as the first place many consumers begin their product searches.

Amazon also said that Buy for Me, a feature that uses an AI agent to complete purchases, is now supported on third-party merchant websites.

With Buy for Me, the AI system handles the entire purchase process on the customer's behalf, and the customer only needs to confirm the details shown at checkout, including the delivery address, taxes, shipping charges, and payment method. Amazon's AI then finalises the order directly on the merchant's site using the necessary information.

Customers can track those purchases in the same "Your Orders" section where they manage their standard Amazon orders, or in a separate "Buy for Me Orders" tab.

Shop Direct is currently live for U.S. customers on Amazon.com, inside the Amazon mobile app, and through Amazon's Rufus AI assistant.