Amazon Reportedly Plans a Database of Products Sold Across the Web
If the plan goes ahead, shoppers could research products on Amazon rather than on Reddit or Google, including goods Amazon does not sell.
Amazon reportedly plans a World Product Graph, a database covering products sold across the internet including items Amazon does not stock, to be surfaced on its own site. The stated goal is to keep shoppers from turning to Reddit or Google for product research and to draw them to Amazon even for goods sold elsewhere. Amazon's own AI shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping (formerly Rufus), would also gain more data, which an internal document says is needed because many of its answers are wrong or incomplete and because running searches through the AI is costly. The project depends on learning how brands organise products on their own websites, possibly by crawling other retailers' sites, and the document lists an October 1, 2027 release date. Reuters reports it is unclear whether or when the plan will be carried out. Amazon responded that such draft documents can give an incomplete picture and that a brainstorming paper does not necessarily reflect its current plans.
Why it matters
The plan would move product research from open sites such as Reddit and Google onto Amazon, and it would rely on learning how other retailers and brands organise their own product pages. For shoppers, the change would mean more of their comparison work happening inside Amazon, even for items sold elsewhere. For other retailers and the search sites that now send them traffic, it would mean Amazon collecting more of the product information that currently flows through the open web. The plan is still unconfirmed: Reuters reports it is unclear whether or when it will happen, and Amazon says a brainstorming document does not necessarily reflect its current plans.
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