Amazon unveils Shop Direct Merchant Workspace

Amazon has introduced the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace, a free self-service portal that allows eligible online retailers in the United States to register for Shop Direct and connect their stores to Amazon. Launched on November 4, 2026, the workspace lets merchants list products that appear in Amazon.com search results, the Amazon Shopping app and Alexa for Shopping, without requiring them to sell inside Amazon’s marketplace. Participation in Shop Direct carries no fees, and merchants can opt out of the program at any time.

The workspace is described by Amazon as a direct AI connector between third-party stores and Alexa for Shopping and Amazon’s website. Through this connection, Shop Direct provides Amazon customers with near real-time information about participating retailers’ products, while keeping the underlying commercial relationship between retailer and shopper outside Amazon’s store infrastructure.

Inside the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace, retailers complete a three-step onboarding: creating a Shop Direct merchant account, verifying their business website and sharing their product catalog. Catalogs can be submitted using widely adopted shopping feed formats, which allows merchants to reuse feeds they already maintain for other shopping destinations rather than building new ones from scratch.

Merchants can submit and manage product feeds, control which items are included in Shop Direct and see which of their products are active and available to Amazon customers. The portal’s messaging emphasizes that products can reach Amazon customers for free and that getting started is designed to be simple for eligible merchants.

Retailers can connect to Shop Direct through established third-party feed providers Feedonomics, Salsify, CEDCommerce and VersaFeed, or by integrating directly using Amazon’s Selling Partner API to submit and manage feeds programmatically. These options extend earlier access routes, which relied mainly on syndicator relationships, by enabling merchants without such relationships to join via the new portal.

The program accepts catalogs only for Amazon’s US store, and Amazon has not publicly detailed eligibility criteria such as catalog size or category limitations. Solution providers that want to build integrations request a dedicated Shop Direct role in Amazon’s Solution Provider Portal, while merchants building their own integrations begin the process in the Merchant Workspace.

Products linked through Shop Direct may appear in relevant Amazon search results and within Alexa for Shopping, clearly labeled as “Shop Direct.” Customers can tap a Shop Direct button on product pages to learn more or buy, at which point they are notified that they are leaving Amazon before being sent to the retailer’s site to view details and complete the purchase.

In some cases, customers confirm order details such as delivery address, taxes, shipping fees and payment method within Amazon’s interface, after which Amazon’s AI completes the purchase on the merchant’s website. Regardless of the path, inventory, pricing, order fulfillment and customer service remain under the retailer’s control, using the same processes already in place.

Shop Direct is positioned to help customers find specific products and brands that are not sold in Amazon’s own store, while giving those external merchants access to Amazon’s large customer base. Retailers that already sell on Amazon may also use Shop Direct to list items they do not currently offer through Amazon’s marketplace, creating an additional route to reach Amazon shoppers.

Amazon characterizes the program as a response to the way many shoppers begin their product searches on Amazon and Alexa for Shopping, whether or not the products are stocked by Amazon. By providing free placement for Shop Direct listings and maintaining retailer control over core commercial terms, the Merchant Workspace is designed to broaden the selection available to Amazon customers while lowering the technical burden for participating merchants.