Amazon tests customers directly to brands websites when he did not store their products

Don’t forget this Christmas movie “Miracle on the 34th street», Where Santa Claus in store in Macy, Kris Kringle, sends a frantic buyer to a competitors’ store to find the Christmas gift his son wanted because Macy was out of stock? Now Amazon does the same online. The retailer announced Tuesday the test of a new Amazon purchase functionality which will redirect buyers to websites from other brands if they are looking for a special product in the application that Amazon does not wear.

In the film, the radical marketing strategy has improved the feeling of customers around Macy – and helped consolidate their status as a better place to shop. Amazon probably hopes that its move will do the same, in particular in light of the increased competition of other online retailers, including Chinese electronic commerce applications like TEMU and Shein.

The retailer claims that functionality is only a beta test for the moment and will be activated for a subset of American customers who are carrying out research in the Amazon Shopping application.

In the new experience, Amazon will display certain products in its search results even if it does not sell them. Instead, it will be linked to the retailer’s website so that customers can click and assess product, pricing and delivery options, and even make purchases directly from the brand itself. The product information shown on Amazon is removed directly from the retailer website and is refreshed regularly.

These links with external retailers will be presented alongside other relevant products found in the own Amazon store, including those of its third -party sellers. Amazon says that he will not share the personal information of users with the brand when the links are clicked.

Once clicked, customers will be informed via a contextual message that “you leave Amazon”, so they are not confused with regard to the location of their purchase. Some of the Amazon brands could redirect to the purchase offer with premium, a payment service that allows bonus members to try on the website of a retailer using its Amazon account and its payment information. The service offers the same fast delivery of Amazon Prime, easy yields and customer support.

“We are constantly working to extend the selection and make purchases even more practical for customers,” said Rajiv Mehta, vice-president of Amazon research and conversation purchases, in a declaration on new feature. “We test by bringing more selection and brands in our search results to help customers find even more of what they want and to further improve our shopping experience for customers.”

Amazon claims that the functionality will initially be available to select customers on the iOS and Android versions of its mobile application and will take place on other customers and brands according to user comments.

Brands are invited to test the experiment by sending an email to branddirect@amazon.com. They can also contact this email to withdraw from inclusion. However, Amazon claims that he will have no data on how customers interact with the brand’s website after leaving the Amazon site using the integrated browser.

This may be the case, but even the data on brands trigger clicks could help Amazon on the products to store and the brands it should court. In the past year, the retailer added more superior and luxury brands to its range, notably Clinique, Estée Lauder, Oura Rings, Armani Beauty, Kate Spade New York, Kiehl’s and Dolce & Gabbana Beauty. On the other hand, he also challenged Temu, Shein and Tiktok with his own low -cost products on Amazon.