Amazon is bringing its online store to gaming, mobile apps

AMAZON.COM is bringing its online store to video games and mobile apps made by other companies, the latest effort to extend the e-commerce giant’s reach beyond its sprawling online marketplace.

With Amazon Anywhere, introduced on Tuesday (May 9), the company will let people on gaming, mobile, web and augmented-reality (AR) applications buy related real-world items without leaving the experience.

The service will debut with Peridot, an AR game featuring virtual pets from Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, the company said in a blog post. A video demonstrates a shopper linking their Amazon account to the game and purchasing a t-shirt, which is delivered from an Amazon warehouse.

The Seattle-based company has long tried to funnel users to its store, including via a longstanding program that offers a cut of each sale to partners that publish links to Amazon listings.

Now, facing increased competition from Shopify and other sellers of sophisticated e-commerce software, Amazon has sought to extend its reach to other corners of the Internet. A program called Buy With Prime, launched in January, lets Prime subscribers use the speedy shipping service when shopping on other websites. BLOOMBERG