Marketplaces ·
If you don't sell on Amazon, should your products show up in Amazon's Shop Direct?
An afternoon Amazon
Short answer
If people search Amazon for your brand, usually yes, as long as the feed behind it is accurate. Shop Direct shows products from other websites in Amazon search and sends the shopper to your store, or lets Amazon buy for them with Buy for Me.
Amazon says Shop Direct covers more than 100 million products from over 400,000 merchants, and PYMNTS, citing The Information, reported on October 28 that its links have grown to 250 million. Merchants can join through the feed providers Feedonomics, Salsify and CEDCommerce, which sync catalog, price and stock in real time. With Buy for Me, Amazon's agent completes the purchase on your site; you receive the shopper's name and address and handle delivery, returns and customer service. The risk is a stale feed. A wrong price or a discontinued flavor shown on Amazon is a problem you will hear about from your customers, not from Amazon. Amazon's Shop Direct merchant page also explains how to opt out if you decide it is not for you.
Do this
- Search Amazon for your brand name and your three best sellers, and note whether any results are labeled Shop Direct and whether price, size and flavor are right.
- Ask your feed provider whether it is connected to Shop Direct (Amazon names Feedonomics, Salsify and CEDCommerce).
- Before switching the feed on, compare price, pack count, size, flavor and stock fields against your own product pages.
- Decide whether Buy for Me orders work for your team: they arrive as normal orders, and you own returns and questions.
- Recheck your Shop Direct listings once a month and after every price or pack change.
Effort is our estimate for a small brand team. Assistant tags come from the assistants this tip names. See also AI shopping assistants compared.
Read more on the blog
- AI Mode questions are three times longer than searches. How to write product copy that answers them.
- Amazon is building a shelf for brands that don't sell on Amazon. Shop Direct at 250 million links.
- McKinsey's agentic commerce survey, read for CPG brands: 48% of US adults now shop with AI