Amazon enables conversational shopping via Alexa voice assistant
Amazon is turning Alexa into a conversational shopping tool and phasing out its Rufus mobile artificial intelligence assistant as a separate chatbot.
The online giant is rolling out “Alexa for Shopping” to all U.S. customers on the Amazon e-commerce site and app, as well as on Amazon Echo Show smart speakers. The new solution combines the personalization capabilities of the next-gen Alexa+ voice model with the functionality of its Rufus generative AI shopping assistant to deliver a targeted shopping experience where customers can browse and shop the full Amazon store using voice, touch, or both.
As part of this launch, Amazon is no longer offering Rufus as an individual feature of its mobile app. The retailer originally introduced Rufus in February 2024 and released several updates since that time, the most recent occurring in February 2026. Rufus is now a function within Alexa for Shopping.
[READ MORE: Amazon releases mobile generative AI shopping assistant]
Alexa for Shopping is designed to become more personal over time. All Amazon customers can use Alexa for Shopping for free when signed into their account with no Echo device, Alexa app, or Prime membership required. Specific features of the new offering include:
- Ask questions directly in the main Amazon search bar: In the Amazon Shopping app, customers can now ask Alexa for Shopping questions right in the Amazon search bar as well as the dedicated Alexa for Shopping chat window. If customers use the main search bar, the search experience recognizes when they are asking a question and Alexa for Shopping can help answer it.
- Compare products from search results: Customers can select multiple products directly from search results and Alexa for Shopping will compare them side by side.
- AI overviews in search and on product detail pages: Alexa for Shopping surfaces AI-generated overviews at the top of search results in the Amazon Shopping app, giving a quick summary of a product category and what to look for. AI overviews are also on product detail pages. The feature is already available to millions of customers and rolling out to all U.S. shoppers.
- Check product price history for up to a full year: Customers can tap "Price History" on any product detail page or ask Alexa for Shopping for the price history to see how the price has changed over the past year on hundreds of millions of products in Amazon's store.
- Schedule routine purchases: When chatting with Alexa for Shopping, customers can tap the "+" icon next to the message bar to create a scheduled action, such as restocking regular household items, or create more specific prompts like "Add this sunscreen to my cart if the price drops to $10 and I haven't purchased it in the last two months.” Alexa for Shopping handles the product research and will either notify customers or add relevant items directly to their cart as a one-time action or on a recurring schedule, so customers can then review and check out.
- Shop other retailers across the web: Customers can discover hundreds of millions of products in Amazon's store and from stores across the web through Shop Direct. For eligible products, the Buy for Me agentic AI feature handles the entire purchase on their behalf using their primary address and credit card.
- Add items to a cart: Alexa for Shopping can search past orders and add them to a cart or build new carts with conversational directions such as “add my regular dog treats,” with checkout available via tap.
- Personalized experience: Customers view and update details like family members, pets, interests, dietary needs, and more by asking Alexa for Shopping what it knows about them.
- Learn about new product categories and items: Alexa for Shopping can create a custom shopping guide that compares features, prices, and reviews across Amazon and the web based on customer reauest.
Alexa for Shopping also has all the other Amazon agentic shopping capabilities, such as snapping a photo to use visual search, finding deals based on browsing history and shopping lists, searching for items by price range, setting price alerts, and auto buying items at a set price. Shoppers can also track packages and check order status through conversation.
Amazon is also bringing its complete shopping experience directly to the Echo Show. For the first time, customers can browse, search and shop the full Amazon store on their Echo Show device and navigate entirely by voice, touch or both with Alexa as their guide.
"Alexa for Shopping is like having an expert personal shopper who already knows you and remembers your preferences, your past purchases, and your conversations, and carries that knowledge and understanding of you across your phone, laptop, and Echo devices," said Rajiv Mehta, VP of conversational shopping at Amazon, in a corporate blog post. "Whether you're comparing products, tracking a price drop, or continuing research you started yesterday, you don’t have to start over."
Alexa for Shopping will roll out to all U.S. customers over the coming week. To get started, customers can update their Amazon Shopping app and tap the Alexa icon in the bottom navigation bar or find it at the top of their screen on desktop.
