Dive Brief:
- Amazon is rolling out Alexa for Shopping, an AI shopping assistant available directly in the main search bar as well as in its own chat window, to all customers in the United States over the coming week, the company announced Wednesday.
- When a customer types a question into the Amazon Shopping app’s search bar, Alexa for Shopping will automatically provide an answer. However, traditional search will remain. Customers who search with keywords for products are still taken to a traditional search results page.
- Alexa for Shopping will take over the Rufus AI shopping assistant’s functions, including viewing previous orders, comparing items and reviewing product details. The new AI assistant can also browse for products from other retailers and purchase them using the Buy for Me feature.
Dive Insight:
Alexa for Shopping could introduce AI shopping assistants to a wider audience and with a superior experience to that of Rufus, according to Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner.
Amazon is already a go-to source for customers to research and discover new products. More than half of consumers — 54% — used Amazon to research products, above search engines such as Google at 51%, in 2025, according to Gartner research.
More than 300 million customers used Rufus in 2025, according to Amazon. Experts believe Alexa for Shopping’s reach could be even greater.
“In addition to Alexa for Shopping’s enhanced functionality, Alexa has much higher brand awareness than Rufus,” Jashinsky said in an email. “The combination of putting Alexa for shopping front and center along with Alexa’s greater brand awareness will lead to more usage.”
While Amazon has set the standard for customer experience, with such features as two-day free shipping, time will tell whether it will do the same with its AI assistant.
AI shopping assistants will become more common, and more retailers may introduce their own tools in response to Amazon’s rollout, according to Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. However, he still sees AI assistants as one shopping tool among many.
“AI is only one of the methods consumers will use for shopping, and retailers will continue to invest in traditional methods like search,” Saunders said in an email. “It is unlikely there will be a revolution where AI takes over every aspect of shopping.”
Alexa for Shopping is connected to the software used in Alexa-enabled devices, and conversations customers have with these items will help the AI shopping assistant provide better personalization over time, according to Amazon.
Amazon’s customer insights will help the e-commerce retailer boost its experience beyond new avenues for product discovery, according to Saunders.
“It’s not just the fact that it’s an AI tool that benefits, it’s the fact that Alexa and Amazon know a great deal about individual consumers so can use that information to enhance the experience in a personal way,” Saunders said. “Few other retailers have this level of data and insight.”
