Amazon Testing sends directly to the brand’s website when a customer doesn’t have a product in stock

Please remember that Christmas movie.”The miracle of 34th Street“Chris Kringle, Santa in Macy, sends crazy shoppers to the contestants’ store to find the Christmas presents his son wanted because Macy’s was out of stock? Currently, Amazon is doing the same online. On Tuesday, the retailer announced a test of a new Amazon Shopping feature that will redirect shoppers to other branded websites if they search the app for a specific product that Amazon is not carrying.

In the film, radical marketing strategies have helped to improve customer sentiment around Macy’s and solidify its position as the perfect place to shop. Amazon may be hoping that the move will do the same, especially in light of increasing competition with other online retailers, including Chinese e-commerce apps such as Temu and Shein.

The retailer says the feature is currently only beta-tested and will be activated for a subset of US customers who run searches on the Amazon Shopping app.

With the new experience, Amazon will display some products in search results, even if they are not selling them. You can also link to the retailer’s website to assess the product, price, delivery options by clicking on them, or buy directly from the brand itself. Product information shown on Amazon is drawn directly from the retailer’s website and updated regularly.

Links to these external retailers will appear along with other related products found in Amazon’s own stores, including those from third-party sellers. Amazon says that clicking on a link does not share user personal information with the brand.

When a customer clicks on the link, they are notified via a pop-up message saying “I’m off Amazon” so they’re not confused about where they’re shopping. Some of the brands that Amazon may redirect to offer Prime With Prime. This is a checkout service that allows you to trade Prime members on the retailer’s website using your Amazon account and payment information. This service offers the same fast delivery, easy returns and customer support as Amazon Prime.

But Amazon tells TechCrunch the experience do not Only brands included I’ll buy it on Prime. They couldn’t share counts or name the exact brands that are part of the test, but retailers say it spans many categories.

“We are constantly working to expand our choices and make shopping even more convenient for our customers,” said Rajiv Mehta, vice president of search and conversation shopping at Amazon. announcement About the new features. “We are testing our customers to bring more choices and brands into search results, find more of what they want, and further improve their shopping experience.”

Amazon said the feature will first select customers on the iOS and Android versions of the mobile app and roll out to other customers and brands based on user feedback.

Brands are invited to try out the experience by sending an email to branddirect@amazon.com. You can also contact this email to opt out option. Amazon claims there is no data on how customers interact with the brand’s website after they use the In-App browser to close Amazon’s site.

That may be true, but even data on triggers that brands click can help inform Amazon about stocking products and which brands should be court-based.

Over the past year, retailers have added premium and luxury brands to their lineup, including Clinique, Asterauder, Ouraling, Armani Beauty, Kate Spade New York, Kiel, Dolce & Gabbana Beauty. On the contrary, it also challenges Temu, Shein and Tiktok shops with their own low-priced products Amazon Haul.