Online retailers are pushing back after Amazon’s Shop Direct agentic AI program trained its bots on their websites without permission. In addition to not being asked to participate, some retailers claim that Shop Direct directs customers to products they don’t even stock.
Businesses have been posting about the issue on social media, fueling a wider conversation. Angie Chua, who runs a Shopify website that sells stationery, told CNBC that she began receiving orders from Amazon’s Buy for Me agent despite never opting into the program. She ultimately had to request that Amazon pull her products—a process that took several days to complete.
A Losing Proposition
Even for merchants seeing incremental sales through Amazon, the gains may be a temporary victory. Retailers want customers spending time on their own sites—browsing products, reading content, and personalizing their experience. That engagement helps merchant build direct relationships with customers, enabling follow-up marketing and the development of a distinct brand identity.
Many merchants have already decided not to sell through Amazon at all. Beyond paying a fee to the platform, their products risk becoming just one of many indistinguishable listings. And shoppers scrolling through Amazon’s listings are generally just looking for the lowest price.
“This is very much a Trojan Horse strategy,” said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Once Amazon gets the customer used to going to their site first, they become the gatekeepers for customers. Pretty soon, sites will lose their ability to attract their own customers.
“This is the primary reason that online retailers use bot-blocking technology, to keep shopping services from scraping prices from their site,” he said. “No retailer wants to be the low-cost seller to somebody else’s customer.”
Not Ready for Prime Time?
The bad blood between Amazon and its unwitting partners has left some analysts wondering whether the agentic AI program was ready to be rolled out.
“Amazon is following the previous tech generation’s ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ playbook,” said Christopher Miller, Lead Analyst of Emerging Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Every merchant will have to be diligent in controlling and protecting its information.
“These kinds of attacks won’t stop,” he said. “It highlights the importance of having a strong strategy for online presence. For smaller retailers, that means having a good partner on the e-commerce side who is developing robust capabilities around the emerging agentic space.”
