Amazon's new AI agent will shop third-party sites for you
Your personal AI assistant can now scout deals beyond the usual aisles.
I've lost count of how many times I've scoured Amazon for an item, only to come up empty-handed. Despite Amazon's reputation as the internet's everything store, some products still slip through its over 300 million product listings. Well, the retail giant claims its new "Buy For Me" feature aims to close this shopping gap.
"Buy For Me" is a new shopping assistant powered by Amazon's Nova AI models and Anthropic's Claude, which allows users to purchase products from other websites directly through the shopping app. This is set to build on the capabilities of Amazon Rufus, Amazon's existing AI-powered conversational shopping assistant integrated into the Amazon Shopping app and on Amazon.com
In February, Amazon quietly launched a test that directs users to other brands' websites for products it doesn't sell. The company says "Buy for Me" has taken this concept further—the AI assistant handles the entire transaction process for you.
However, handing over your credit card details to an AI can feel a bit scary. Like, what if it goes rogue and buys you 100 pairs of Crocs instead of one? Some have even taken it to social media, specifically Reddit, to tell the world they wouldn't be using the feature.
Nonetheless, the feature works intuitively within the familiar Amazon interface. When you search for a product, you might see a section labeled "Shop brand sites directly" alongside Amazon's usual listings. For select items, a "Buy For Me" button appears that, when clicked, triggers the AI to complete the purchase. For returns or exchanges, the system directs you to the original retailer.
Amazon isn't alone in developing AI shopping tools. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have introduced similar assistants. For instance, Google's Shopping Graph AI surfaces product recommendations but doesn't facilitate purchases. However, Amazon claims an advantage: "Buy for Me" uses encryption to transfer billing details to third-party sites securely.
That being said, "Buy for me" is currently in testing on both iOS and Android with a small percentage of users. When the feature finally launches widely, shoppers who decide to use the feature stand to gain significant benefits, particularly no more juggling multiple sites to get one thing.
For Amazon, which processes over 1.6 million packages daily in the US alone with a market share of 37.6 percent, according to Statistia, this expansion represents their continued push to become the universal starting point for online shopping—regardless of where the transaction ultimately occurs.
