This Amazon experiment peeks into a future where shoppers don’t choose where they buy from, the platforms do…
Since April 2025, Amazon has been quietly testing a new feature called “Buy for Me”, which they’re positioning on two key benefits:
- Reducing friction when customers can’t find what they’re looking for on the marketplace itself.
- Expanding Amazon’s selection without the need to hold the stock.
How does “Buy for Me” work?
Currently in trial, “Buy for Me” is integrated into the Amazon Shopping app.
Customers may see:
- Amazon and marketplace listings as usual.
- A separate section labelled “Shop brand sites directly”.
In some cases, if a product isn’t available on Amazon, “Buy for Me” can offer to buy it on the shopper’s behalf from the brand’s own website.
It then uses Agentic AI to complete the transaction, wrapping the whole experience as part of an Amazon-only purchase path:
- Amazon takes payment within its own checkout.
- Agentic AI completes the purchase on the brand’s website.
- Fulfilment, delivery, returns and customer service remain with the brand.
For customers, it’s designed to feel easy and seamless.
But for brands? It raises some important strategic questions.
Why it matters
“Buy for Me” is a peep into a future where platforms are acting as purchasing agents as well as marketplaces – where almost the entire purchase path, from discovery through checkout to order management, rests with Amazon, even when the transaction itself happens somewhere else.
And that has clear implications across a whole range of commercial considerations, from control of channels, pricing and availability to brand visibility, ownership and even customer relationships.
The Opportunity – and the Risk
For some brands, “Buy for Me” could:
- Capture demand that would otherwise be lost.
- Reduce friction for customers who default to Amazon.
- Extend reach without listing inventory.
But obviously there’s a flip side too, because brands could also:
- Lose control over how and where their products surface.
- Be exposed to pricing or availability mismatches.
- See Amazon inserted into customer journeys they didn’t plan for.
And critically for non-Amazon brands, this could all happen without any formal seller relationship in place.
What this tells us about 2026
It’s an intriguing glimpse into a world of agentic commerce, with the shift already beginning towards AI not just recommending products, but actively completing purchases on a customer’s behalf.
In this world, we see the brands who win out as the ones who can:
- Pinpoint exactly where their products appear.
- Have disciplined pricing and availability governance in place.
- And grasp how platforms can interpret and surface their catalogue.
- Manage their channels actively.
What brands should be doing now
Whether “Buy for Me” does scale or not, some form of Agentic AI is on the horizon.
In our experts’ opinion, now’s the time for brands to audit where and how products currently appear beyond any Amazon listings and tighten pricing, availability and consistency of data across channels.
The aim will be to keep as much control as possible, which can be done through:
Data and availability
Agentic AI can only act on what it can see and trust, so by deciding which SKUs are available where, keeping pricing, availability and attributes consistent (or deliberately not) and controlling which products are discoverable or eligible for recommendation, your brand can constrain AI’s decisions.
Channel governance
Brands will still have a choice over where their products are listed, and how tightly they manage pricing and promotions across all their channels, controlling where AI can buy from.
Commercial Guardrails
By defining acceptable price floors and ceilings as well as your own fulfilment and service expectations, you can make sure there are no gaps for AI to fill in.
Clarity across the board
Keeping your brand positioning clear, your messaging tight and your product hierarchies obvious will always pay dividends with an algorithmic system.
The Bottom Line
For Amazon, Agentic AI will see them own the customer decision moment, even when the inventory sits somewhere else.
For brands? The answer lies in keeping deliberate control over every element possible, from tighter boundaries and stronger governance to crystal-clear messaging.
If you need expert help to make sure your brand is ready for Agentic AI – and all the other Amazon shifts coming over the horizon – our award-winning team is here for you.