Amazon Shop Direct Workspace Opens Alexa for Shopping to Stores

Amazon has opened a free self-service tool that lets online stores outside its marketplace put their products in front of Amazon shoppers and its AI assistant, Alexa for Shopping. The Shop Direct Merchant Workspace, announced on November 4, 2026, lets eligible merchants sign up, upload product feeds and track which items are live. It is Amazon’s latest step to make its AI shopping assistant the place where customers start their shopping, even for goods it does not sell.

What is the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace?

Shop Direct is an Amazon feature that shows products from other retailers’ websites inside Amazon. It first launched in February 2025, according to PYMNTS. The new workspace gives merchants a self-service way to join and manage their participation.

According to Amazon’s announcement, merchants sign up in three steps:

1. Create a Shop Direct merchant account.
2. Verify their business website.
3. Share their product catalogue, either through an app from a solution provider or directly through Amazon’s Selling Partner API.

The workspace accepts common shopping feed formats. Amazon named Feedonomics, Salsify, CEDCommerce and VersaFeed as providers that can send catalogues on a merchant’s behalf. Inside the workspace, merchants can submit feeds, manage what they include and see which products are active.

Amanda Doerr, Amazon’s vice president of core shopping, said that “Shop Direct makes it simple for merchants to have their selection discovered by Amazon customers.”

How does it work for shoppers?

Products from Shop Direct merchants appear on Amazon.com, in the Amazon Shopping app and on mobile web, with a “Shop Direct” label in search results. They are also available to Alexa for Shopping, which Amazon describes as its agentic AI shopping assistant.

When a shopper taps the Shop Direct button, Amazon displays a notice that they are leaving its site and sends them to the merchant’s own store to complete the purchase.

For some eligible items, a feature called Buy for Me goes further. The shopper confirms their address, taxes, shipping and payment details on Amazon, and Amazon’s AI then completes the purchase on the merchant’s website. Amazon describes Buy for Me as a beta.

What does it cost merchants?

Amazon says the service is free, with no fees. Merchants decide which items to include and can leave at any time. They continue to handle their own inventory, pricing, fulfilment and customer service, so Amazon does not take over the sale.

Amazon did not publish detailed eligibility rules, saying only that the workspace is open to eligible merchants. Shop Direct itself is available to all US customers.

How big is Alexa for Shopping?

The launch builds on Amazon’s growing bet on AI shopping. On October 29, 2026, Amazon said Alexa for Shopping had gained more than 100 new shopping actions, such as creating lists and registries, changing Subscribe & Save orders and checking gift card balances.

On Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call the same day, chief executive Andy Jassy said more than 400 million customers had used Alexa for Shopping in the previous 12 months, up from 350 million at the end of July, according to Modern Retail. He added that users spend 50% more than non-users. Jassy said Alexa for Shopping “is going to be the primary shopping agent” customers use on Amazon.

Amazon said products from Shop Direct appear in hundreds of millions of searches a month, and that tens of millions of customers have discovered products from other stores through the feature since it launched.

Why it matters

For independent merchants, the workspace offers a free route to Amazon’s shoppers without selling on its marketplace. That could be attractive for brands that want to keep control of their customer relationships.

For Amazon, the move helps make Alexa for Shopping more useful by widening the range of products it can recommend. Modern Retail noted that Amazon blocks outside AI agents such as ChatGPT from its own site, so building the most complete catalogue inside its own assistant is central to its strategy.

For more on how AI agents are changing everyday services, see our report on Uber’s early AI agent bookings.

What happens next?

The workspace arrives just ahead of the holiday shopping season. Merchants will be watching how much traffic and how many sales Shop Direct and Buy for Me actually deliver, and whether Amazon expands Buy for Me beyond its beta.