Amazon Shop Direct: Expand your product reach across Amazon

What if your products could appear in Amazon search results without being listed on Amazon's marketplace?

That's already possible with Amazon Shop Direct. And with millions of products from external merchants now discoverable through Amazon, the program is opening another route to shoppers beyond traditional marketplace listings.

The scale speaks for itself.

100M+ products | 400K+ merchants | Millions of referrals to external stores

In early 2026, Amazon expanded Shop Direct to accept product feeds from merchants and feed partners, giving brands another way to make eligible products discoverable through Amazon without adding them to their existing marketplace assortment.

For enterprise brands managing large catalogs, the appeal is clear: reach more Amazon shoppers while keeping transactions, customer relationships, and fulfillment within their own ecommerce operations.

Here's what you need to know about eligibility, product data requirements, and getting started.

What is Amazon Shop Direct, and why should brands pay attention?

Amazon Shop Direct is a product discovery program that brings products from external merchant websites into Amazon's shopping experience, even when those products aren't listed on Amazon's marketplace.

Here's how it works: Shoppers discover eligible products through Amazon search results and AI-assisted shopping experiences, including Alexa for Shopping (formerly Rufus). When they're ready to buy, they can click through to the merchant's own website to complete their purchase.

The opportunity goes beyond simply appearing in another search result:

• More visibility for products outside your Amazon assortment: Reach shoppers already searching and comparing products on Amazon, without creating marketplace listings for every eligible item.
• Your store, your customers, your sales: Shoppers complete their purchases on your website, while you retain control over checkout, pricing, fulfillment, and customer service.
• Another discovery channel without Amazon referral fees: Amazon currently charges no participation fees or referral commissions for Shop Direct. However, product feed management tools and service providers may have separate costs.

Source: Amazon

While participation doesn't guarantee visibility in Amazon search results or AI recommendations, accurate and complete product data can improve how effectively Amazon understands and matches your products to relevant shopper searches.

Amazon Shop Direct vs. Buy for Me: What's the difference?

Finding a product on Amazon is one thing. Buying it without visiting the merchant's website is another.

That's the key distinction between Amazon Shop Direct and Buy for Me. While Shop Direct directs shoppers to external stores, Buy for Me enables AI-assisted purchases of eligible products.

Source: Amazon

Amazon introduced Buy for Me in April 2025 as a limited beta for select US shoppers and has since expanded the experience.

Which brands and products qualify for Amazon Shop Direct?

Participation in Amazon Shop Direct depends on eligibility at both the merchant and product levels.

Merchant eligibility: Who can participate?

Amazon Shop Direct is currently available to eligible direct-to-consumer brands and multi-brand retailers that operate in the US, run their own online stores, sell physical products, and ship to US customers.

The following types of businesses are generally not eligible for Shop Direct:

• Membership-only or gated storefronts
• B2B marketplaces or wholesalers requiring buyer verification
• Off-price retailers with rapidly changing inventory
• Affiliate websites redirecting shoppers to third-party retailers

Product eligibility: Which products qualify?

Products already listed on Amazon's marketplace are not eligible for Shop Direct. However, existing Amazon sellers can participate with eligible products outside their marketplace assortment.

Other exclusions include perishable goods, digital products, secondhand or refurbished items, and certain regulated products.

All participation is subject to Amazon's approval.

How to prepare your product catalog for Amazon Shop Direct

Amazon Shop Direct accepts product feeds from merchants and their solution providers, allowing brands to submit catalog, pricing, and inventory information directly to Amazon. For enterprise brands, the priority is to meet Shop Direct's feed requirements while building on existing product data workflows.

1. Identify eligible products without disrupting existing Amazon listings

Start by separating Shop Direct-eligible products from existing Amazon marketplace listings. Use consistent identifiers such as SKUs, GTINs, and MPNs to match products across catalogs and avoid submitting ineligible inventory.

For multi-brand catalogs, apply automated inclusion and exclusion rules based on marketplace listing status, product category, and availability. Update these rules as assortments change.

2. Give Amazon accurate product information for discovery

Shop Direct requires product data to follow its own feed specification. Review existing mappings and prepare the additional attributes required for submission.

Prioritize:

• Product identification: Consistent SKUs, brand names, product identifiers, and variant relationships.
• Product content: Accurate titles, descriptions, images, categories, and relevant specifications such as size, material, or compatibility.
• Offer information: Product URLs, prices, currency, and availability that match your online store.

Validate required fields, accepted values, and formatting against Amazon's Shop Direct feed specification before submission.

3. Keep Shop Direct feeds synchronized with your online store

Accurate pricing and availability are especially important when shoppers discover products on Amazon but complete purchases on your website.

Set up automated feed updates and validation checks to identify price or stock mismatches, broken product URLs, missing attributes, and products that become ineligible. Monitor feed processing results and resolve rejected records to maintain accurate product information across Amazon and your storefront.

How to activate Amazon Shop Direct with Productsup

Productsup supports Amazon Shop Direct through an extension of its existing Amazon Marketplace Seller US export template, incorporating the additional fields required by the Shop Direct feed specification.

This allows eligible merchants to build on their existing product feed infrastructure rather than introduce an entirely separate solution.

The onboarding process follows four main steps:

1. Confirm eligibility and program acceptance: Work with our Productsup representative to assess the use case and coordinate participation with Amazon.

2. Authorize feed submission: Grant the necessary permission for Productsup to submit your product data to Shop Direct.

3. Complete Amazon account provisioning: Amazon creates the Shop Direct account and provides the credentials and tokens required for feed submission. The expected provisioning period is approximately 7-10 business days, however, the actual timeline may vary.

4. Configure and submit your feed: Productsup uses the extended Amazon export template to prepare and submit eligible product information.

For existing Productsup customers, Shop Direct can become an additional destination alongside their advertising, marketplace, and other commerce channels.

Productsup also supports traditional Amazon Seller Central and Vendor Central workflows, enabling enterprises to manage different Amazon-related use cases through a centralized platform.

Want to explore the opportunity?

Book a demo with us and see how to manage product data across Amazon's commerce channels.