Apps & Consumer
Amazon's Alexa can now alert you to things worth buying
Amazon launched 'Update Me When,' an Alexa for Shopping feature that sends personalized alerts when something new happens that could lead to a purchase.
Amazon continues to experiment with how AI can improve the shopping experience, launching a new feature within its Alexa for Shopping AI assistant on Tuesday called “Update Me When.” The feature can send consumers personalized notifications when something new or relevant happens that could lead to a purchase — for instance, when a favorite brand launches a new product line, a favorite TV show drops a new season, an artist announces a concert tour, an author releases a new book, or a tech company releases a new product.
The launch is one of several AI-powered shopping features Amazon highlighted Tuesday, several of which point to a broader shift in the company’s AI strategy. Historically, Alexa has mainly answered product questions when shoppers ask directly; now it can help anticipate when something might prompt a purchase before the shopper even thinks to ask. While consumers initially have to configure these alerts directly, it’s not hard to imagine a future where Amazon automatically generates alerts, or suggests alerts for shoppers to subscribe to as they browse favorite products.
Among the other Alexa for Shopping features, the most useful may be the existing price-tracking tool, which lets shoppers ask the assistant to alert them when a product reaches a particular price or discount percentage — and can even automatically buy the item if it meets those conditions, if the shopper prefers. Amazon has also been using Alexa to source personalized deals and build shopping guides, assemble carts from past purchases, track a product’s pricing history, show AI overviews when shoppers search for products or view product pages, transcribe handwritten lists into cart items, and compare items, among other tasks.
Why it matters
Amazon is pushing Alexa from answering shopping questions to anticipating purchases before shoppers ask, a shift that — if it moves toward automatically generated alerts — could make AI a more active driver of what people buy, not just a tool that answers.