Amazon folds Rufus into Alexa for Shopping

Amazon has launched Alexa for Shopping across its mobile app, website and Echo Show devices in a rollout to U.S. customers. The company folded Rufus’ shopping technology into Alexa+, removed the Rufus name from the public shopping interface and said Rufus will continue to run behind the scenes. The feature is available at no extra cost to any signed-in Amazon user and does not require Prime, an Echo device or the Alexa app.

Users can access Alexa for Shopping by tapping the Alexa icon in the Amazon Shopping app or using the search area at the top of the desktop site. On Echo Show devices customers can browse, search and complete purchases by voice, touch or both. Full-store shopping is initially enabled on Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21, with support for more models planned.

The assistant combines Rufus’ product-research capabilities with Alexa+’s personalized context. It draws on a customer’s Amazon activity and Alexa interactions-including shopping history, browsing, past purchases and conversations-to answer product questions, compare items and recommend products across phones, laptops and Echo devices.

Features include side-by-side product comparisons, AI-generated summaries on product pages and category overviews in search results. Customers can view up to a year of price history on product pages and set monitors to track price drops for selected items for up to one year. The assistant can generate shopping guides that compare features and prices and include reviews from Amazon and other web sources.

Alexa for Shopping supports scheduled shopping actions such as restocking household items, setting birthday reminders and getting gift suggestions. Users can attach conditions to those actions, for example adding an item to the cart only if it reaches a target price and has not been purchased within a set time. The assistant can search past orders, add frequently purchased items to a cart via conversation and surface products from other online stores through Shop Direct.

For eligible items, Amazon’s Buy for Me feature can complete purchases using a customer’s primary address and payment method. Customers can view and update personal details used by the assistant, such as family members, pets, interests and dietary needs.

Amazon reported Rufus helped more than 300 million customers in 2025 with research, comparisons and purchases. CEO Andy Jassy reported Rufus monthly active users rose more than 115% and engagement increased nearly 400% year over year.

Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of conversational shopping, described the assistant as able to “carry customer preferences, past purchases, and conversations across phones, laptops, and Echo devices.”

Amazon cited AI investments in its first-quarter 2026 results, reporting free cash flow for the trailing 12 months fell to $1.2 billion and attributing the decline mainly to a $59.3 billion increase in property and equipment purchases tied primarily to AI investments. In its 2025 annual report the company reported $426.3 billion in North America net sales and $161.9 billion in international net sales and separated online stores and third-party seller services into distinct revenue categories.