The Amazon App Is Suggesting Products From Other Stores, Because Reasons

Amazon is apparently not happy being the face of e-commerce, so it’s planning to start wearing other companies’ hats, too. It's currently beta testing a feature in the Amazon app that will show you products Amazon doesn't actually sell; when you click on them while shopping, you'll be invited to leave the app to shop directly from the brand itself.

“We’re now testing a new shopping experience in beta where we’ll show select products in our search results even if we don’t sell them in our store,” Amazon wrote in a blog. A gif demonstrating the feature suggests these products will be bunched together under a “Shop brand sites directly” banner, and will show an image and a price point. Clicking on one of them will trigger a warning that you’re leaving Amazon; clicking "continue" will take you directly to the website for the brand that makes the product, so you can finish your shopping there instead.

While on that other brand’s website, Amazon Prime members may still be able to take advantage of their delivery and returns benefits, provided the store is part of the Buy with Prime program.

It’s unclear why Amazon is making a point of sending people to shop from what is ostensibly its competition, or if it’ll receive any affiliate revenue for doing so. My guess is that this is an attempt to compete with Google Shopping. Currently, Google offers users dozens of buy links across different stores, each with different deals and sometimes with reviews attached, just for typing a product name into the search engine. Savvy shoppers can use Google to avoid Amazon entirely, while possibly getting a better idea of their buying options.

In introducing links to alternate stores to Amazon, the company can evolve from simply an e-commerce giant into a general shopping search engine in its own right. Theoretically, this will incentivize buyers to stay in the Amazon ecosystem, or at least interact with it at some point in their shopping journey. Think of it like eating at a McDonald’s in a theme park—the park owners might have to split some revenue, but they get to keep you on property rather than having you leave to get lunch elsewhere.

Reasoning aside, the change is no doubt likely to confuse some users as to where exactly they’re buying their items. Currently, it seems as if Amazon is rolling out this feature somewhat arbitrarily, as there doesn’t appear to be a way to sign up for it or get rid of it if you have it. Instead, the company notes that it’s “currently live for a subset of U.S. customers in the Amazon Shopping app on both iOS and Android,” with more U.S. users set to be added shortly. If you’d rather avoid the update, it does seem to currently be limited to Amazon's mobile apps, so you can continue to shop in your browser without encountering it.

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