Amazon's Alexa AI can now shop online

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Mar 22, 2017

Amazon Prime Now customers can now ask Amazon’s AI, Alexa, to shop for them. With just a few vocal commands, customers can shop from Amazon’s inventory without ever touching their phone or computer. 

 
Assaf Ronen, Vice President of Voice Shopping, told the press in a statement, “Bringing Prime Now to Alexa voice shopping combines two of the most innovative shopping technologies available for an experience that our customers are going to wonder how they ever lived without. We’re excited to offer the full Prime Now catalogue with Alexa, including tens of thousands of items, which allows you to refill everyday essentials you’ve just run out of like diapers or dish soap, or cater to unexpected guests with merlot and ice cream, all without ever leaving your house or even getting up from the couch.”

​ Alexa is Amazon’s response to Apple’s Siri app – Alexa users can order pizza, check the weather, watch Netflix, or play music. The Alexa AI is integrated into Amazon’s Echo device, the Amazon Tap, the Fire Tablet, or the Fire TV. Any consumer with one of these devices can use the Alexa AI.

To shop from Amazon’s online Prime section, the customer simply needs to ask theirs Alexa device “Alexa, order me a ____”. Alexa will answer with the exact product name or a similar product name, as well as a recommendation of items the customer might also be interested in. For shoppers in the 30 cities where Amazon Prime Now is offered, the items will arrive within the two-hour delivery window. 
 
The service is currently only available to Amazon Prime customers.