Amazon Lets US Shoppers Text Alexa to Search, Compare and Buy

Amazon said on November 6 that its Alexa voice assistant is gaining a text-message shopping feature: invited customers in the United States can text Alexa in natural language to search for products, compare prices, add items to a cart and complete a purchase, without opening an app or speaking a command. Customers who are not invited can join a waitlist on Amazon's website, with the feature rolling out more broadly in the coming weeks. (Image: an Amazon illustration of Alexa text shopping.)

Compare prices, track orders — and search by photo

According to Amazon, the text version of Alexa builds on recent shopping upgrades: it can manage lists, keep tabs on prices, search for items across the web, compare products and check the status of orders. Users can also share a picture of an item or someone wearing an outfit to search for similar listings on Amazon. Amazon said Alexa will learn users' preferences over time and suggest items accordingly.

After blocking a rival's crawler, Amazon ships its own agent ahead of the holidays

The move comes as AI assistants shift toward text messaging: Amazon blocked Meta's Muse assistant from querying its site in September, and is now launching its own text shopping assistant just before the holiday shopping season. Amazon is not the only company betting on this route — delivery platform DoorDash said in October that third-party AI agents had so far placed only hundreds of orders on its platform, and that it would concentrate on developing its own text-based agent, launched in September.