This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing e-commerce marketplace landscape. More from the series →Amazon replaced its Rufus chatbot with a new AI assistant called Alexa for Shopping this week as AI search becomes a bigger part of its online store. On Wednesday, Amazon announced a new AI assistant called “Alexa for Shopping,” which replaces the Rufus branding across Amazon’s app and website while bringing Alexa+ capabilities directly into Amazon search. The company said customers can now ask shopping questions directly in the main search bar, compare products, track prices and automate purchases using natural language prompts. Amazon also said the experience will draw from customers’ shopping history and Alexa conversations across devices.
The move comes as tech companies race to turn AI chatbots into shopping assistants. OpenAI, Google and Perplexity have all introduced tools that help consumers research products and make purchases through conversational interfaces, while some retailers are striking deals with third-party AI platforms to sell products through chatbots. Some of those efforts have been underwhelming. Amazon is betting shoppers will prefer using an AI assistant built directly into its own store rather than third-party bots.
