Amazon.com’s associates now have access to a new program called aStore beta. It enables affiliates to create a custom Amazon storefront.

Just recently, Amazon had launched Omakase Links beta that will automatically optimize product offerings based on what the associate has been successful in the past, what the user has been interested in as well as what the site is about.

Up until now, there is no easy way to pull a set of Amazon products and build product pages where you can refer your visitors to. aStore seems to be the answer to this.

I decided to try out aStore to see if it lives up to its promise by saying that associates could set a store up and running in minutes.

The first aStore page features an introduction to the tool. It allows you to select Amazon products to feature, include specific categories or all products and customize look and feel.

But, that’s not all. You can even offer a professional shopping cart, show product details like product descriptions, Amazon Editor product reviews, recommended products, and others.

This is a screenshot of how the page store building page looks like. None of the products appear on the boxes yet.

You can either enter a keyword or ASIN/ISBN if you know it. For example, I am going to enter some of the books I read in the past, including recommendations from others that I haven’t had time to read — and still on my Wish List.

A search for “long tail” — to locate a book authored by Chris Anderson — revealed both versions of the hardcover book. Clicking on each of the link should give you an idea if this item is really what you want to be added to your store.

Reiterate the steps above to include more items.

Each time an item was added to the featured products, the item would replace the blank spots. Optionally, you can add description or click on the item image to add it later. Descriptions will be added below the title, by line and price tag in the Associates store.

In the Category pages section is where you can add category pages and edit featured products page. The category will be displayed on the upper right corner of the store. You can add all the categories or check only the categories you want.

On the next page — Edit Color & Design — you are allowed to select from different color schemes — which are georgeous — but I choose to select my own colors to suit the look and feel of my blog. The next step is to give your store a name and specify logo URL.

The fourth step involves choosing the sidebar placement and widgets. There are ample of options to choose from. If you don’t what to do here, just accept what were originally checked for you.

The final step is to get the link to your store, of which you can link from your site or blog.

Upon previewing my store, I found that the title was too long, which took two lines of header title spaces. Not good, so I made it shorter.

The great things are all the look and feel of the site including the product detail pages will suit the color scheme you chose.

Unfortunately, I can not reorder the item I want to place on each spot.

Also at the bottom of the page is an invitation to join Amazon’s associate program, complete with my associate ID. Amazon may or may not use this information in the future.

Probably just to track which affiliates signed up from which links, or they may launch a program to pay for referral fee or two level affiliate programs in the future. Who knows?

Take a look at what I built with Amazon aStore.