Amazon is giving its Alexa for Shopping assistant a new way to take orders: text messages. A limited group of customers in the United States began receiving invitations to try the feature on Nov. 6, and Amazon says it will expand access to millions more people in the coming weeks. Shoppers can describe what they want to buy or send a photo of an item, and the assistant will look for matching listings, reply with suggestions, and place the order for them.
The contact shows up on a user's phone as "Amazon Alexa." According to Amazon, the assistant can handle a broad range of requests, from weekly grocery orders to gift ideas to finding products similar to something in a picture. Alexa for Shopping also remembers preferences over time, so a customer who often asks for vegan options will see that reflected in recommendations.
The assistant can additionally monitor deals and prices and send a text when an item a customer is watching goes on sale. The texting feature extends the Alexa for Shopping experience Amazon launched in May, which was designed for moments when typing a message is easier than opening the Amazon app or website. Amazon positioned the contact as a personal shopping agent that searches, compares, and buys on the customer's behalf.
"Customers often jot down what they need the moment they think of it in their notes, in their messages, in their group chats," said Rajiv Mehta, vice president of Conversational Shopping at Amazon. He said the new capability means a personal shopping agent is just a text away, and that customers can message what they need and let Alexa go to work searching, comparing, and buying so they can get on with their day.
Amazon is not alone in pushing text-based interactions with chatbots. OpenAI launched a feature last month that lets users exchange text messages with its personal AI agent, Dot. DoorDash introduced a text-based ordering feature in September that offers dish recommendations and lets users order food by texting the Ask DoorDash AI chatbot.
For Amazon, the rollout puts its shopping assistant inside the messaging apps where many consumers already keep running lists and share recommendations. The company has not said how quickly the broader expansion will proceed beyond the coming weeks, and the initial invitations are limited to a small set of US customers.
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