Amazon Opens Shop Direct Portal for Online Retailers

Amazon opened its Shop Direct Merchant Workspace on November 4, 2026, giving eligible online retailers a free way to make products from their own websites discoverable on Amazon and Alexa for Shopping. Retailers can register, connect a catalog, and check which listings are active, according to Amazon’s launch announcement.

Amazon introduced Shop Direct in 2025 to show products from other retailers in its search results. In March 2026, it added catalog connections through three feed providers and said a merchant portal was in development. At the time, Amazon put the selection at more than 100 million products from over 400,000 merchants in its March announcement.

Key Takeaways From the Shop Direct Workspace Launch

• Retailers can reuse an existing product feed and choose which items to include.
• Shop Direct is available to US customers on Amazon’s site, shopping app, and Alexa for Shopping.
• The retailer fulfills orders, including eligible purchases placed by Amazon’s Buy for Me feature.

How Retailers Connect Their Product Feeds

Retailers can connect a catalog through the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace in three steps.

1. Create a Shop Direct account.
2. Verify the business website.
3. Connect the product catalog. Retailers can choose between two options.
   1. Authorize a feed provider. Amazon supports Feedonomics, Salsify, CEDCommerce, and VersaFeed.
   2. Connect through Amazon’s Selling Partner API. Merchants apply for Shop Direct access for a private application. Once approved, they can submit and update listings using the Google product data feed format.

Retailers can group product variations, such as sizes and colors, so shoppers see them together on Amazon. After submitting a feed, retailers can check the processing report for grouping errors. Amazon explains the process in its Shop Direct listing guide.

Retailers can choose which products to share and opt out at any time. Existing Amazon sellers may also qualify to submit products from their own websites that are outside their Amazon assortment.

Amazon says connected feeds can pass price and availability updates to shoppers in near real time. CJ also uses advertiser catalogs to make products discoverable in AI shopping apps through its Channel3 integration.

How Shoppers Buy Shop Direct Products

Amazon says Shop Direct listings appear in hundreds of millions of searches each month. Each listing identifies the retailer, and shoppers can open a dedicated product page. The workspace also connects retailers to Alexa for Shopping, which gained gift list creation and refund tracking in its October update.

• Shop Direct. Shoppers see a notice that they’re leaving Amazon, then go to the retailer’s website to review the item and pay.
• Buy for Me. On eligible items, shoppers review their delivery address, payment method, taxes, and shipping charges on Amazon before approving the order. Amazon then places the order on the retailer’s website.

For both options, the retailer sets prices, manages inventory, fulfills orders, and handles customer service, exchanges, and returns. For Buy for Me orders, the retailer sends the confirmation, and shoppers can track the order in the Amazon Shopping app.

What Affiliate Teams Can Check About Shop Direct Orders

A customer may click a publisher’s affiliate link and later find the same item through Shop Direct. For a retailer that runs its own affiliate program, the question is whether its reporting credits that earlier referral if the shopper buys after clicking through from Amazon or asks Buy for Me to place the order.

A test order for each route can show how the retailer’s analytics classify the sale and whether the affiliate platform records it against the referring partner. Affiliate teams can then check the order’s value and approval status against the program’s commission rules. Affiverse covers how to follow a referral from click to validated sale in its affiliate marketing tracking guide.