The Pulse
Amazon Lets a Subset of Customers Text Alexa for Shopping
Amazon is inviting a small group of U.S. customers to text Alexa for Shopping, with access expected to expand to millions more in the coming weeks. The service can help with grocery orders, product searches, price alerts and purchases, and
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Amazon starts with invited texters
A subset of U.S. customers can now text Alexa for Shopping, Amazon says, with the option rolling out to millions more in the coming weeks. The first invitations are being sent to a small group, and customers who have not received one can sign up on Amazon’s landing page for news and offers by text. To begin using the service, invited customers accept the terms and link their phone number. The contact appears on their phones as “Alexa Shopping.”
The text option joins Alexa for Shopping in the Amazon Shopping app and on Amazon.com. Customers can send requests in ordinary messages, and the agent searches for products, compares options and replies with suggestions. When a customer is ready, it can add items to a cart and complete a purchase on their behalf.
From grocery orders to product searches
Amazon lists a range of possible requests: starting a weekly grocery order, finding a birthday gift needed by Saturday, reordering laundry detergent, or sending a photo of a recipe so its ingredients can be added to a cart. Customers can also send a photo of an outfit or other item they have spotted and ask for similar products. For a last-minute meal, Amazon gives the example of texting a request for eggs, bacon, pancake mix and maple syrup to be delivered in 30 minutes.
Customers can make changes to an order by text, ask for dinner ideas based on recent purchases, or tell Alexa for Shopping about preferences such as wanting only organic products. The service learns customers’ preferences, shopping habits and tastes as they use it. It can also manage shopping lists, including adding an item to a grocery list or creating a holiday gift list, and provide order updates in response to a message such as “where’s my package?”
Price history, comparisons and alerts
Alexa for Shopping can compare products using details, reviews and prices, and show up to a full year of price history. Customers can ask it to track a price and send an alert if an item goes on sale, or monitor Amazon and the broader web for new releases. The service can also surface products from stores across the web through Shop Direct, according to Amazon.
The shopping agent can take action on customers’ behalf, including automating recurring shopping tasks and using auto-buy to complete a purchase when a price is right. Customers can also ask it to provide nutritional information when discussing food or to add items to a cart automatically.
Requests can carry over between devices
Amazon is rolling out the ability for a request started over text to continue in the Amazon Shopping app, on Amazon.com or on Alexa-enabled devices, and vice versa. The agent remembers what customers were working on, what they have told it and their preferences, allowing a later interaction to pick up where the previous one left off. The Alexa Shopping text thread is also expected to include Amazon order updates, delivery notifications and deals alongside shopping conversations.
“Now with Alexa for Shopping, your personal shopping agent is just a text away. Message it what you need, and Alexa goes to work on your behalf—searching, comparing, and buying so you can get on with your day,” said Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Conversational Shopping.
Amazon’s figures for Alexa for Shopping
Amazon says more than 400 million customers used Alexa for Shopping in the past 12 months, and the number using its agentic features has grown more than eight times since the start of the year. Customers can use simple conversation to manage lists, registries, subscriptions and their account.