Amazon is introducing Alexa Plus shopping features that make it easier to track orders and avoid missing out on deals. The AI-powered Alexa Plus assistant — much like Amazon’s Rufus chatbot — can actively track products, letting you know when they’ve dropped to a certain price, and automatically purchase them when they fall below a designated threshold. You can now track your purchases with a fresh shopping experience launching this week on Echo Show 15 and 21.
These Alexa Plus price tracking features that were announced in February and began rolling out to Alexa Plus users in June, can monitor products in your Amazon cart and wishlist, or track specific products according to instructions. For example, you can ask it to notify you if the price of your Dyson Supersonic dryer drops below $300. The shrewd assistant can also be told to automatically purchase items when they reach the desired price, using Amazon’s default shipping address and payment options to complete the order.
There are automatic purchase options Amazon’s Rufus AI chatbot last monthallowing users to exploit the same features in the Amazon Shopping app. While it’s nice to have Alexa alert you to price drops on items in your cart, users should be wary of this feature, which could ruin the gift-giving season for people in the same household.
There’s a fresh shopping command center for the Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21, which sounds like a combination of several existing widgets. ‘Basic Shopping’ displays your recent orders, real-time delivery tracking, shopping list and saved products, as well as suggested household items to purchase again. The feature can be activated by saying “Alexa, where are my stuff?” or “Open Shopping Essentials”. Amazon says Echo users will be able to add a fresh shopping widget to their home screen “soon.”
Amazon says Alexa Plus will now prompt users to add additional items to incoming deliveries to ensure last-minute purchases arrive faster, suggesting items that can be added to a shipment “up until they leave the warehouse.”
Another fresh shopping feature is that users can now exploit Alexa Plus personalized gift suggestions. Once you provide details about the person you’re shopping for or the occasion, Alexa Plus will generate personalized product recommendations, visually organized by category.