A new “buy for me” feature that Amazon is testing in the US also displays brands that have deliberately chosen not to work with the company on the e-commerce platform. The outrage is considerable.
Without permission
In the US, Amazon is testing a new AI feature that allows shoppers to purchase products from external webshops when the products they are looking for are not available on the Amazon platform. As a result, brands that do not work with Amazon are appearing unsolicited on the e-commerce giant’s marketplace, which then places an order on behalf of the customer with those external webshops via an AI agent.
This is not to the liking of the brands concerned, who discover that their range appears on Amazon’s marketplace without their permission, even when they deliberately avoid the platform. The practice also leads to errors: several manufacturers received orders from an email address with @buyforme.amazon for items that were out of stock or no longer in their range. This causes reputational damage. There is widespread outrage on social media.
Webshops that do not want to participate in the “buy for me” program must contact Amazon by email. The retailer promises to respond within two business days. This practice is also causing anger.
