Amazon continues to tap into artificial intelligence to help drive more ecommerce transactions, now piloting a new AI-powered feature called “Buy for Me.”
It allows shoppers to buy products from other brand websites directly within the Amazon Shopping app, the company said in a news release.
“We’re always working to invent new ways to make shopping even more convenient, and we’ve created Buy for Me to help customers quickly and easily find and buy products from other brand stores if we don’t currently sell those items in our store,” said Oliver Messenger, director of Amazon Shopping, in the announcement.
Amazon previews its AI-powered “Buy for Me” shopping tool.
As part of the test, Amazon said shoppers using its iOS or Android app may begin to see additional listings from participating third-party brands directly in search results. Rather than sending users to the third-party sites, Amazon’s AI can complete the purchase on the customer’s behalf, the company said.
The experience is powered by agentic AI — a type of generative artificial intelligence (AI) that can take action for a user with minimal input, according to Amazon.
Currently, the feature is in beta testing with a “subset of U.S. customers,” the company said. Amazon said it’s also working with a limited number of brand stores and products, with plans to expand Buy for Me over time.
Amazon holds the No. 1 spot in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database, which ranks North America’s largest online retailers by annual ecommerce sales. It also ranks No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).
In addition, Amazon is one of the “Big Four” mass merchants featured in Digital Commerce 360’s newly published State of American Ecommerce Report.
How Amazon “Buy for Me” works for shoppers
With the test, Amazon is signaling a broader push to support purchases of products it doesn’t sell directly.
The goal, according to Messenger, is to let customers shop from other brands within the familiar Amazon Shopping environment. At the same time, the feature gives those brands added exposure and conversion opportunities, he said.
Here’s how it works, according to Amazon.
When shoppers use the Amazon app, they may now see a section in search results labeled “Shop brand sites directly.” The area features products from select third-party brand websites. In some cases, a “Buy for Me” link will appear next to eligible items, according to Amazon’s news release.
When a customer taps on a product labeled Buy for Me, they’re directed to a product detail page within the Amazon app. That page includes familiar elements like images, pricing, and descriptions — similar to standard Amazon listings, the company said.
Customers who tap the Buy for Me button are then taken to a checkout page. There, they can confirm shipping details, taxes, and payment method, according to the release.
At that point, Amazon’s agentic AI takes over. In this case, the AI completes the transaction using encrypted customer data, including name, address, and payment details, Amazon said. The company added that it cannot see unrelated or past orders made on the brand’s site.
“The customer is in control of the AI agent acting on their behalf, and brands have the choice if they want to participate and benefit from the increased brand visibility, customer engagement, and sales,” the company stated in the release.
After completing a purchase, Amazon said, customers receive a confirmation email directly from the brand. Shoppers can track their orders within the Buy for Me Orders tab inside the Amazon app, according to the company.
All fulfillment, delivery, returns, and customer service are handled by the brand store — not Amazon itself, the company said. Amazon also confirmed that it does not currently take a cut of purchases made through the Buy for Me button.
Amazon’s AI models power the retail experience
According to Amazon, the Buy for Me feature runs on Bedrock, its managed service that gives developers access to foundation models from Amazon and other AI companies.
Two of those models — Amazon’s Nova and Anthropic’s Claude — enable the agentic AI capabilities that power the Buy for Me experience, the company said.
During Amazon’s February Q4 earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy said the company recently launched Nova, its own family of frontier models. Amazon designed the models to perform competitively with other leading AI models while offering lower latency and cost, Jassy said. Pricing for Nova is roughly 75% lower than other models available through Bedrock, he added.
Jassy also said thousands of AWS customers are already using Nova models, including:
- Deloitte
- Dentsu
- Fortinet
- Palantir
- Robinhood
- SAP
- Trellix
Bedrock itself continues to gain momentum. On the same earnings call, Jassy said the platform is “growing quickly and resonates strongly with customers.”
More AI moves across ecommerce and online retail
Amazon also recently introduced Nova Act, an agentic AI model trained to take actions inside a web browser. According to Amazon, Nova Act can search for products, fill shopping carts, complete checkout, and update billing information across ecommerce and other sites.
Although Nova Act is not currently used in the Buy for Me experience, it signals Amazon’s broader interest in AI for shopping tasks.
The retailer recently launched “Interests,” a discovery tool that recommends products based on user preferences. It also introduced Rufus, an AI-powered shopping assistant for consumers, and Amelia, an assistant designed for marketplace sellers.
Amazon is also rolling out Alexa+, an upgraded version of its voice assistant that incorporates generative artificial intelligence. It will come with ecommerce features at launch.
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