It is majorly self defeating. A transaction on Amazon has very little friction, because they already have your payment details, you have a history and you know

It is majorly self defeating. A transaction on Amazon has very little friction, because they already have your payment details, you have a history and you know the quirks of the site. By forcing people to consider alternatives, it is making people experience that initial friction elsewhere, but once they are setup there the friction is less. It won't take very long to discover other retailers have better prices, better shipping and less quirky sites. Essentially this is nice gift to Amazon's competitors. Amazon will find out just how "sticky" those competitors are, but this stills seems silly.