Amazon now selling items from Shark Tank

Amazon has a new partnership with “Shark Tank.”“Shark Tank”/ABC

• Amazon announced on Monday that it has launched a new partnership with the hit ABC entrepreneurial pitch show “Shark Tank.”
• Via a special page on Amazon.com, the e-commerce giant will sell items from companies that the Sharks have invested in during any season of the show.
• It’s part of Amazon Launchpad, the program where Amazon partners with young companies and startups to increase product selection on its site.

Entrepreneurs have a new reason to go on “Shark Tank.”

Amazon announced on Monday that it is officially partnering with the show to sell merchandise made by entrepreneurs whose companies the Sharks have invested in. The items are collected on a dedicated page in Amazon’s Launchpad section, where it collects items sold by startups and young companies. 

“For the first time ever, ‘Shark Tank’ has a store on Amazon.com dedicated to helping our entrepreneurs scale their businesses and highlight top products from the show,” Barbara Corcoran, one of the star Sharks, said in a prepared statement. “We are excited for the Amazon Launchpad Shark Tank Collection to bring products from our entrepreneurs to retail for customers and fans of the series.”

Merchandise from the winners of season one through nine of the show are currently available on the page — over 70 items in all. As winners are picked in the currently airing season 10, their items will appear on the page as well.

“The Amazon Launchpad program is all about empowering creators and inventors, enabling them to reach hundreds of millions of customers,” Jim Adkins, a vice president at Amazon, said in a statement. “By teaming up with ‘Shark Tank,’ we are making it fun and easy for fans of the show to discover a wide variety of unique innovations and cutting-edge products.”

The perks don’t stop there, either. Amazon is also giving each qualified entrepreneur a $15,000 Amazon Web Services credit that can be used toward cloud services.

However, there could be a downside to the opportunity.

Amazon logs data from every sale on its website, even from partners that use it as a platform. It’s also known for not sharing as much data with these partners as other online platforms.

Amazon could easily take a look at which items are blowing up on the site, gaining information for possible investment or acquisition in the future. Or, Amazon could take the idea and create its own private-label version.