What if reaching hundreds of millions of Amazon customers didn’t mean new listings? Amazon Shop Direct lets your products appear in Amazon discovery while purchases happen on your website, making it easier to test demand.
Shop Direct is Amazon’s bet that discovery can happen on Amazon while the purchase happens on the merchant’s own site. Instead of listing products on Amazon immediately, your products can now appear in Amazon search results and within Rufus (Amazon’s AI shopping assistant).
The key advantage: This is ideal for testing demand and increasing reach without changing your current operating model. Amazon Shop Direct provides an extra channel for visibility and traffic, helping customers discover your products. The best part is that you retain full control over payments, pricing, fulfillment, and customer relationships.
Wondering how? In this blog, we’ll break down what Shop Direct is, why it started, who it’s for, how it works and how you can get on it. Bonus: answers to common questions like costs, data requirements, and product visibility.
What Is Amazon Shop Direct?
Amazon Shop Direct is an AI-powered shopping experience that allows Amazon customers to discover products from merchants across the web directly on Amazon. Instead of requiring merchants to list on Amazon, Shop Direct displays products in Amazon search results and within Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant.
When customers find a product labeled “Shop Direct,” they can click on it to visit the merchant’s website and complete the purchase. For some products, Amazon also offers a Buy for Me option, where Amazon’s AI securely completes the purchase on the customer’s behalf using their saved Amazon payment details.
Merchants connect with feed syndicators such as CedCommerce to submit product feeds, allowing Amazon to ingest catalog data and surface those products in its search experience.
Hence, Amazon Shop Direct, part of the broader Shop the Web initiative, expands how product search works on Amazon by introducing products from stores across the web. Designed to help customers find relevant products even if they are not currently listed on Amazon.
Key characteristics of Amazon Shop Direct
AI-powered product discovery
Shop Direct uses AI to surface relevant products when customers search for items or brands.
Visibility beyond a single channel
Products from merchant websites can appear in Amazon search results, expanding the selection customers can buy from.
As a result, Shop Direct allows Amazon to discover products that are not currently sold in Amazon’s store.
Where does the Shop Direct experience appear?
Customers may encounter Shop Direct across several Amazon surfaces:
- Amazon.com
- Amazon Shopping App
- Mobile web browsers
- Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant
Current scale of the program
- 100M+ products included in the experience
- 400,000+ merchants participating
Shop Direct is one of Amazon’s initiatives designed to help customers discover products they are searching for across the web.
Why Amazon Created Shop Direct
The goal is simple: help customers find the products they search for, even if those products are sold outside Amazon’s store.
Key drivers behind the program:
Expand product selection
Shop Direct already includes 100M+ products from 400,000+ merchants, increasing the range of products customers can discover on Amazon.
Help customers find the brands they search for
Customers often search Amazon for specific brands. Shop Direct allows those products to appear in search.
AI-powered product search
Products can surface in Amazon search results and through Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant.
How Amazon Shop Direct Works
Amazon Shop Direct relies on feed syndicators to deliver merchant product feeds, enabling Amazon to surface those products in search and browsing experiences.
To participate, merchants connect with feed syndicators such as CedCommerce, who then sync the merchant’s product catalog with Amazon’s Shop Direct program. This feed data includes titles, images, pricing, and availability, enabling Amazon to match relevant products with customer searches.
Customer journey with Shop Direct:
Customer searches for a product on Amazon
Shoppers search for a product or brand on Amazon.com, the Amazon Shopping app, or through Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant.
Amazon displays relevant results
Search results may include products from external merchant stores. These products are clearly labeled “Shop Direct.”
Customer taps “Shop Direct”
If the product is relevant, the customer can select the Shop Direct option associated with that product.
Customer is redirected to the merchant website
Amazon notifies the customer that they are leaving Amazon and redirects them to the merchant’s website.
Customer completes the purchase on the merchant store
The purchase is completed directly on the merchant’s website, where the merchant manages payments, fulfillment, customer service, and order handling through their existing systems.
Shop Direct vs Buy for Me
Amazon Shop Direct is the broader discovery experience that allows products from merchant websites to appear in Amazon search and AI-powered shopping journeys.
Within this experience, customers may see two ways to complete their purchase, depending on the product.
Shop Direct (Redirect to merchant website)
In this flow:
- A customer searches for a product on Amazon
- The product appears in search results labeled Shop Direct
- The customer taps Shop Direct
- Amazon notifies the customer they are leaving Amazon
- The customer is redirected to the merchant’s website
- The purchase is completed directly on the merchant’s store
Buy for Me (Amazon-assisted checkout)
For some products, Amazon may offer a Buy for Me option within the Shop Direct experience.
In this flow:
- The customer taps Buy for Me on Amazon
- The customer confirms order details on Amazon’s checkout page
- Amazon’s AI securely completes the purchase on the merchant’s website using:
- encrypted payment information
- shipping address
Post-purchase handling
Regardless of how the purchase is completed:
- The merchant fulfills the order
- The merchant manages returns and exchanges
- The merchant provides customer service
- The merchant receives customer details required for delivery and order management
- The merchant receives the customer’s name and shipping details to complete delivery and manage the order.
Who is Amazon Shop Direct for?
This model works best for businesses that already operate an eCommerce storefront and want to expand product visibility through Amazon’s search and AI-powered discovery experience.
Best suited for:
Brands with DTC stores
Merchants selling through platforms such as Shopify, Magento, or other eCommerce platforms.
Brands exploring Amazon demand
Businesses that want to test product visibility among Amazon customers before expanding their presence.
Brands with strong website fulfillment
Merchants that already manage payments, shipping, inventory, and customer service through their existing eCommerce operations.
Brands focused on traffic acquisition
Companies looking to reach Amazon’s large customer base while continuing to complete transactions on their own storefront.
How Product Feeds Power Shop Direct
Amazon Shop Direct is powered by product feeds submitted by merchants or their solution providers, such as CedCommerce. These feeds allow Amazon to receive structured product data and surface relevant products when customers search on Amazon.
To participate, merchants typically grant their solution provider permission to send product feeds to Amazon’s Shop Direct program. The solution provider then submits the enrollment and provides the product feed that powers product search.
Product feed data requirements
Amazon uses industry-standard product feed data to match products with relevant customer searches.
Required information typically includes:
- Unique product identifiers
- Product titles and descriptions
- Brand information
- Product categories
- High-quality product images
- Pricing
- Availability
- Direct URLs to product pages on the merchant’s website
Why product data quality matters
Complete and accurate product data improves Amazon’s ability to match products with relevant customer searches.
The better the product data, the more effectively Amazon’s systems can surface the product to customers searching for that brand or item.
Product feeds, therefore, act as the foundation of the Shop Direct experience, enabling Amazon to connect customer search intent with products available on merchant websites.
How CedCommerce Helps Merchants Connect to Amazon Shop Direct
You already know millions of shoppers begin their product searches on Amazon. What if there was a way to reach those shoppers while bringing the purchase back to your own online store? This can be especially valuable if you already have your fulfillment and shipping operations in place.
That’s the opportunity Amazon Shop Direct introduces.
Instead of listing your products on Amazon, you can make your catalogs discoverable through Amazon’s search. This is where CedCommerce plays a key role.
CedCommerce is an official feed syndicator for the Shop Direct program, helping you connect your product catalogs to Amazon through structured product feeds. Instead of managing feed specifications, formatting requirements, or catalog submissions manually, merchants can rely on CedCommerce to streamline the process.
With CedCommerce, you can:
- Connect your eCommerce store catalog to Amazon Shop Direct through structured product feeds managed by CedCommerce
- Sync essential product data including titles, images, pricing, availability, and product URLs
- Avoid managing complex integrations or feed requirements while CedCommerce handles catalog submission and data sync
- Keep your existing eCommerce operations unchanged, including payments, shipping, fulfillment, and customer service
- Focus on running your store while CedCommerce manages the technical layer that enables participation in the program
In short, CedCommerce removes the operational complexity of joining Amazon Shop Direct, making it easier for merchants to make their products discoverable while continuing to sell through their own eCommerce storefront.
Amazon becomes your product visibility driver while your store remains the transaction engine.
Quick Recap:
- Your products can now appear in Amazon discovery experiences without listing on Amazon
- Amazon customers can find your products through Amazon search and AI-powered discovery
- Purchases still happen on your website
- You retain full control over pricing, fulfillment, and customer relationships
- Amazon does not charge you for participating in the Shop Direct program
Amazon Shop Direct represents a new layer of product discovery, one where products across the web can surface in Amazon’s search ecosystem.
With CedCommerce helping merchants connect their product feeds to Amazon, businesses can explore this opportunity and bring Amazon discovery directly to their storefront.
Ready to make your products discoverable on Amazon and drive traffic to your store?
