Amazon (AMZN) Expands Shop Direct to Let Customers Buy from Other Online Stores

E-commerce giant Amazon AMZN -1.08% ▼ is expanding its Shop Direct program, which allows customers to discover and buy products from other online stores even if those items are not sold on Amazon’s marketplace. To make this work, Amazon is now supporting third-party product feeds through services such as Feedonomics, Salsify, and CEDCommerce.

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Interestingly, these platforms allow Amazon to access merchants’ inventory in real time and display those products directly in Amazon search results or through its Rufus AI shopping assistant. Once a customer finds a product, they have two choices. They can either go to the merchant’s website and complete the purchase through Shop Direct, or they can use the Buy for Me feature, where Amazon’s AI agent completes the purchase for them by automatically filling in payment and shipping information.

Meanwhile, the Shop Direct program has already grown to include more than 100 million products from over 400,000 merchants. Interestingly, Amazon does not collect a fee from Shop Direct orders or referral fees from Buy for Me purchases. However, the company still benefits by gaining access to competitors’ inventory data, which allows it to learn which products are in high demand. At the same time, this strategy encourages shoppers to start their product searches on Amazon, even if the final purchase happens on another website.

Is Amazon a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AMZN stock based on 40 Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average AMZN price target of $279.88 per share implies 32% upside potential.

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