Prime Video is becoming a shopping destination, as Amazon rolls out a series of new features that let viewers discover and buy products across thousands of titles while they watch. The retail giant confirmed the updates on Thursday, building on integrations with its existing X-Ray experience, which already displays real-time actor biographies, character names, soundtrack details and more.
The changes follow the earlier launch of “Shop the Show”, a second-screen shopping experience available through the Amazon mobile shopping app. Rather than interrupting playback or overlaying product information on-screen, that feature directed viewers to products tied to a given film, series or live sports event when they typed “shop the show” into the Amazon Search app. That option was arguably easy to overlook, and the new features aim to make product recommendations more prominent and easier to reach.
How shopping through X-Ray works
To shop via X-Ray, viewers launch the experience as usual by pausing the video and pressing up on the Fire TV remote. A new Shop tab then showcases products related to what is playing on screen. To buy an item, viewers open the Amazon Shopping app, which recognises the content and drops them into a feed synced to that exact moment, where they can browse the products on offer.
The wider second-screen experience has also been refined. Instead of entering the “shop the show” search request, viewers can simply open the Amazon Shopping app while watching a film or series and be taken to that title’s storefront automatically.
Shop the Scene and Amazon Lens
A new feature called Shop the Scene uses Amazon’s visual search technology, Amazon Lens, to identify products inspired by characters’ outfits, home decor and other items appearing in a scene. Viewers tap the image to prompt the search. The tool will not always find an exact match, as characters often wear clothing that Amazon or its sellers do not stock, including pieces from high-end brands or handmade costumes, but it offers a starting point for achieving a similar look.
Amazon joins several services integrating shopping suggestions into the viewing experience to create an additional revenue stream. YouTube has long offered creators a merchandise shelf and shoppable connected TV adverts. Peacock added a Must ShopTV feature in 2023 that lets viewers buy products appearing in its content. Roku offers a way to shop with its remote, while Disney has experimented with shoppable TV across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN.
Shop the Scene is live today on iOS and Android in the United States and works with more than 600 titles. The Shop the Show feature in Amazon’s app is expanding from 1,300 titles to more than 8,000 in the United States, including Prime Originals, select licensed favourites and live sports.
