The Amazon App Suggests Items From Other Stores for Reasons
Amazon is clearly unhappy with being the face of e-commerce, so it plans to start wearing other companies’ hats as well. The Amazon app is currently beta testing a feature that will show you products that Amazon doesn’t actually sell; when you click on them while shopping, you will be asked to exit the app to shop directly from the brand itself.
“We’re currently testing a new shopping experience in beta, where we’ll show featured products in search results even if we don’t sell them in our store,” Amazon wrote in a blog post . The GIF demonstrating the feature suggests that these products will be grouped under the “Shop Directly From Brands’ Websites” banner and will display an image and price. When you click on one, you’ll see a warning that you’re leaving Amazon; Clicking “Continue” will take you directly to the website of the brand that makes the product, and you can complete your shopping there instead.
While on another brand’s website, Amazon Prime members will still be able to take advantage of shipping and returns, as long as the store is part of the Shop with Prime program.
It’s unclear why Amazon is sending people who are supposedly its competitors to shop, or whether it will earn any affiliate income for doing so. I’m guessing this is an attempt to compete with Google Shopping. Currently, Google offers users dozens of links to purchase from different stores, each containing different offers and sometimes reviews, just to enter the product name into the search engine. Savvy shoppers can use Google to avoid Amazon entirely and perhaps get a better idea of their purchasing options.
By introducing links to alternative stores on Amazon, the company can transform itself from a mere e-commerce giant into a shopping search engine in its own right. In theory, this would encourage shoppers 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 McDonald’s at a theme park: the park owners may have to split some of the proceeds, but they’ll be able to keep you on the property rather than forcing you to go eat somewhere else.
Speculation aside, this change will undoubtedly confuse some users as to where exactly they are purchasing their items. Currently, it seems like Amazon is rolling out this feature somewhat arbitrarily, as there is no way to sign up for it or get rid of it if you have it. Instead, the company notes that it is “currently available to a portion of US customers in the Amazon Shopping app on both iOS and Android,” with plans to add more US users soon. If you’d rather avoid the update, it looks like it’s currently limited to Amazon’s mobile apps, so you can continue shopping in your browser without encountering it.