Amazon’s New “Buy for Me” Feature: What DTC Brands Should Know
If you’re a DTC brand that’s been dodging Seller Central like a bad ex, Amazon might have a new reason for you to take their calls again.
They’ve rolled out a new beta feature inside the Amazon Shopping app called Direct Brand-Site Shopping, and while it’s still early days, it could represent a quiet shift in how Amazon supports brands outside of its own store.
Let’s unpack it.
What’s going on here?
For select brands, Amazon is now surfacing products in its app, even if they’re not available in Amazon’s own catalog. When customers search for certain items, they might see yours pop up, with an option to either:
- Tap a link and head straight to your website
- Or use a new “Buy for me” button, where Amazon’s AI (yes, of course it uses AI) places the order on your site on behalf of the customer
Either way, the order goes through you, not Amazon. You keep control of pricing, fulfillment, customer service, and the direct relationship (well, mostly).
So… Amazon is supporting off-platform shopping?
Pretty much. This is Amazon dipping its toe into a hybrid model where it keeps customers inside the app experience, while still allowing you to close the sale through your own channels.
Product info (images, titles, descriptions, pricing) is pulled directly from your site. If you update your product page, Amazon refreshes accordingly. And when a customer uses the “Buy for me” option, Amazon acts as a kind of checkout concierge, placing the order using your checkout flow, but with its own safeguards.
What brands get:
- Visibility in Amazon search, even without selling on Amazon
- A lightweight way to connect Amazon’s traffic with your DTC funnel
- Listings powered by your site content (no Seller Central involved)
- Customer contact via a secure forwarding system, so you can send order updates, tracking info, and support messages
What customers get:
- A way to shop brands that aren’t listed on Amazon directly
- An AI-assisted checkout experience that keeps things quick and familiar
- Easy access to shipping and tracking updates
- Brand-led customer service and policies
There are a few limitations, like no ability to apply promo codes (yet), and only one item per order for now. Also, purchases made this way aren’t covered by Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee, but Amazon is clear about that in the customer-facing messaging.
Why it matters
This is a beta program, currently available to a limited number of brands and U.S. customers. But it’s a sign that Amazon recognizes not every brand wants to (or needs to) sell in the traditional marketplace format.
For brands who’ve built a strong DTC presence but still want to show up where their customers are searching, this could be a smart, low-lift way to meet them halfway.
The TL;DR
Amazon’s new Direct Brand-Site Shopping feature is designed to help customers discover your products, even if you’re not selling in the Amazon store. Whether they check out through your site or use “Buy for me” to speed things up, you stay in control of pricing, fulfillment, and brand experience.
It’s a new kind of partnership—one that blends Amazon’s reach with your autonomy.
Need help figuring out if this fits your strategy?
At Parker-Lambert, we help brands navigate the ever-evolving Amazon ecosystem, whether you’re going all-in, staying DTC, or exploring hybrid approaches like this one.
