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The Battle to Control What Shoppers Buy 

​Amazon's Project Starfish: Is AI Shopping About to Be Swept Out to Sea?

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In this article, we will consider the real motivations behind Amazon's Project Starfish and how this could impact Amazon seller brands in the near future...

For years, Amazon has been one of the first places shoppers go when deciding what to buy, but generative AI is changing that.

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Increasingly, the first question might not be typed into Amazon's search bar at all. It may be asked of ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI assistant.

 

When Amazon launches a project capable of understanding products far beyond its own marketplace, the most interesting question may not be what Project Starfish does, but what Amazon needs it to do.

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What Amazon Says About Project Starfish

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Project Starfish is an initiative designed to build a much broader understanding of products and their information than is possible using Amazon's existing catalog alone.

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Based on Amazon's own reporting, Project Starfish has the following technical abilities:
 

• Crawl and ingest product information from across the internet

• Collect and normalize product data including specifications, attributes, descriptions, images, and other product information

• Resolve conflicting data between resources, i.e., between external web data and Amazon's own catalog

• Use its AI to fill information gaps, improve product specifications, and potentially identify inaccurate, incomplete, or suboptimal data.

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The question being asked is whether Amazon will automatically update seller ASIN content as a result of its findings. Meaning that the seller loses sovereignty over their product listing.

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But this is not all...

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Amazon's Project Starfish can support external product discovery for its shoppers via Shop Direct and Buy for Me.

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And that is a significant factor that changes the game.

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Entering a Whole New Ecosystem

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It's time to not think of Project Starfish as simply an AI system that could rewrite Amazon listings. This is certainly a feature of Starfish but not its only application.

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Amazon is no longer limited to product data within its own catalog. It now surfs the whole web. This opens Amazon (and its shoppers) to a much larger ecosystem, which strengthens Amazon's ability to answer AI shopping queries and fulfil a shopper's needs.

If we consider the limited advantages to Amazon of updating a listing's general content, for example, will improving an ASIN's featured bullets significantly improve Amazon's conversion rates? Or could there be another reason for Project Starfish?
 

 

Sinking or Swimming in the Big Waves of Change

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In 2019, Forbes wrote an article titled "89% Of Consumers Are More Likely To Buy Products From Amazon Than Other E-Commerce Sites: Study".

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The critical point is that Amazon once completely controlled where the shopping decision began. And now it doesn't.

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... and it influenced every stage of the buyer's journey. But this has also changed.

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External AI, such as ChatGPT, OpenAI, Gemini, and other AI programs, is now increasingly involved in the shopping process. According to a report written yesterday by DC Velocity, "64% of shoppers are using AI" to help make purchasing decisions and direct them to suitable products.

As Amazon recently blocked these AI systems from accessing its catalog, there is a real threat to Amazon's strategic control of the market, as the purchasing decision can be made before (or without) the shopper ever visiting Amazon.

 

The significant threat to Amazon isn't that AI will direct fewer shoppers to its catalog but that the decision will be made without Amazon having an opportunity to influence it.

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What is the Relationship Between Starfish, Buy for Me, and Shop Direct?

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Amazon needs to regain control.

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By becoming the AI layer between a shopper and all purchases made across the internet, not just its own catalog, Project Starfish isn't trying to be a replica of ChatGPT and the like, but wants to compete for the chance to influence buying decisions.

 

When a shopper asks, "What should I buy...?" Amazon wants to be the place where that question lands.

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Starfish creates the intelligence behind influencing a shopper's purchasing decisions.

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Shop Direct has the potential to expose products to a shopper that are beyond the Amazon catalog.

 

Buy for Me can facilitate the purchase of off-Amazon products, thereby reducing buyer friction and maintaining conversions.

The potential for Amazon is HUGE.

 

The Real Opportunity for Project Starfish

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Improving ASIN content may be a genuine function of Starfish, but it doesn't explain its overall value to Amazon, or the potential issues for brands selling on Amazon.

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If Amazon updates an ASIN's content, how does it stand to benefit? Maybe a better customer experience, a possible slight increase in revenue (if a lack of conversions were leading shoppers off Amazon), and fewer abandoned sessions. But if the customer purchases product B rather than A, Amazon still benefits.

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In contrast, Starfish enables Amazon to access a whole web of available products. Brands with a huge customer base but no presence in Amazon's catalog will be easily accessible through Amazon's trusted portal.

This creates several questions:

 

1. How will non-Amazon products be visible in search results? One assumes via Shop Direct and third-party product feeds

2. Will this open up advertising opportunities for brands external to Amazon's system? Examples: PPC for Shop Direct or Alexa positioning

3. How would this impact brands currently selling and advertising on Amazon?

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This new strategic infrastructure created by Amazon's Project Starfish, alongside its current AI systems and purchasing opportunities, creates channels for Amazon to monetize external product discovery in ways not previously possible.

If Amazon facilitates off-catalog purchases, how will it make money? Well, the absence of a current commission model does not make this system irrational in a commercial sense.

Amazon not only retains customers but might also attract new shoppers. Shopping and search data are improved. Product knowledge and purchasing patterns are deepened. Direct influence over more shopping decisions becomes a reality. Future advertising opportunities and transaction monetisation are a game-changer. All while reducing the need for people to interact with external AI engines.

 

For current brands on Amazon, it will likely mean that shoppers have easier access to more of your competition. A worrying thought. It might mean that Amazon reserves a particular page section for such products within its search query results (as it does now to a lesser degree), or on an ASIN's content page, or at the Add to Cart screen. Considering that Amazon will mostly want to keep its buyers within its ecosystem, it will likely mean that such non-catalog purchases will remain within its walls. Therefore, a shopper will not be driven off Amazon to an external product page, but will remain within Amazon until the purchase is made.

 

Conclusions

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On reflection, it is clear how current AI programs threaten Amazon's core business. It has made dramatic changes in response to this: preventing catalog access to external AI, creating Rufus and COSMO, and now the expansive Project Starfish.

 

Amazon wants shoppers to ask it, "What should I buy..." and not ChatGPT, for example.

Starfish may improve product descriptions by understanding external products. Amazon sellers will need to ensure holistic content harmony across their websites, social media presence, and Amazon catalog products within their range, so that signals sent to Starfish are 100% clear.

Amazon's Buy for Me facilitates off-catalog purchasing of external products. As the current method has limited financial benefit for Amazon, sending its shoppers to a non-Amazon product is questionable; however, the advantage for Amazon is a much wider scope of potential.

While Amazon has not yet publicly stated this, it is highly plausible that it will want to take greater control over AI shopping influences, create a seamless buying transaction for off-catalog items, benefit from referral commissions, PPC advertising for external brands competing within Amazon's ecosystem, and advertising payments for AI recommendations. 

 

For current brands selling on Amazon, there is a greater need to strengthen product listing optimisation, branding content, imagery, and keyword dominance. To grow stronger before Starfish opens the floodgates to external competition, should that happen.

Understanding how your brand's products create meaningful signals to both Amazon and external AI across all formats, including social media, is going to be vital for success in the near future.

 

Given the above, it seems clear that Amazon has not created Project Starfish just to modify its catalog products but has given itself a great opportunity to expand its business far beyond its current format.

As this will likely bring new challenges to Amazon sellers, it may also bring new audiences. To this end, I have created a 12-week ListingEvolve framework to align Amazon listings with both internal and external AI programs and to take advantage of these changes. You can read about the framework and case studies using the "Listing Optimization" tab above.

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