Amazon’s "Buy For Me" is about more than redefining the shopping experience

What is Amazon’s "Buy For Me"?

"Buy For Me" is Amazon’s latest AI-powered shopping feature which allows customers to purchase products from external brand websites directly within the Amazon app. If a shopper searches for a brand not sold on Amazon or is scrolling through results for a non-branded keyword, they may see listings appear in a “Shop brand sites directly” widget.

When the widget appears, shoppers have the option to click directly on a product via the “Buy For Me" button or expand the widget to show more products from the brand. When “Buy For Me" is clicked on, shoppers are brought to a checkout page powered by agentic AI to confirm the order details, and the purchase can then be made all within the Amazon app.

Amazon’s AI handles the transaction by securely transmitting the customer details to the brand’s website, and once the purchase is complete the brand then handles fulfillment, delivery, and customer service. All customer-facing info and updates are relayed via the Amazon app.

Why did Amazon launch “Buy For Me"?

"Buy For Me" is Amazon’s next push toward building the most desirable shopping ecosystem for consumers. Amazon doesn’t receive commissions or collect transaction data for the time being, because their motivations are elsewhere. Here’s what’s in it for Amazon:

Building the shopping ecosystem, from discovery to conversion: With shoppers having fewer and fewer reasons to ever leave the Amazon app, this ensures Amazon remains the starting point for all product discovery and keeps competitors like Shopify or TikTok on their toes. This launch also helps Amazon continue to grow their selection without having to build a 1P or 3P relationship with brands.

Strengthens ad revenue: By driving traffic to external DTC sites without setting up an entire Amazon storefront, Amazon is incentivizing brands to explore and invest in its advertising solutions with a new traffic source as the catalyst.  

Claiming share of discovery: With "Buy For Me," Amazon positions itself as the hub for discovering any product as a consumer, eliminating friction in the experience of needing to buy multiple products from multiple different retailers. The ease of a streamlined and effortless checkout process is critical for driving loyalty.  

What does "Buy For Me" mean for brands?

Here are the benefits of agreeing to offer products through "Buy For Me" as a brand:

• Increased exposure: Brands gain access to Amazon’s massive customer base without needing to sell directly on the platform.

• Frictionless transactions: The simplified checkout process reduces barriers to purchase, increasing conversion rates for DTC brands.

• Control over fulfillment: Brands maintain pricing, fulfillment, and customer service, ensuring they can deliver their own experience post-purchase.

The one downside to this launch is that brands are not able to collect personal customer information from these transactions, which means they cannot directly connect shoppers to loyalty-driving initiatives. This is the trade-off between Amazon and brands in that brands have the opportunity to capture new traffic and conversions that can inform Amazon advertising strategies going forward (ie. Is it worth investing in ads on Amazon.com that drive traffic back to DTC so that true customer data can be captured?), but they don’t addressable customer data purely from the "Buy For Me" transactions.

The bigger picture: Amazon is stealing traffic from Google, and publishers are becoming starved

Amazon’s "Buy For Me" is not just about improving convenience—it’s part of a broader strategy to strengthen Amazon’s role as the leading destination for product discovery and traffic generation. Traditionally, many shopping journeys began via Google search, driving traffic to retailers and publishers. But with features like "Buy For Me," Amazon is working to capture more of that search activity and keep it within its own ecosystem.

This creates a significant challenge for publishers who are relying on Google for traffic generation. Google search isn’t going anywhere and both generative and agentic AI are dependent on much of the information held within Google search, but, there will undoubtedly be fewer clicks on Google search results over time. Fewer clicks means decreased traffic for publishers and decreased revenue for Google’s DSP.  

One last note to tie everything together here. With Amazon’s goal to be the platform for product discovery and a prominent source of traffic generation, it may be worth serious consideration for brands that do not sell on Amazon to opt into surfacing within Amazon’s "Buy For Me" feature in the near future. If traffic generation via Google search is decreasing, brands need to find ways to drive discovery even if the full transactional data is not provided and "Buy For Me" is a great gateway into capturing demand from Amazon’s core customer base.

‍