Amazon Rufus is Amazon's AI shopping assistant, which Amazon is now bringing together with Alexa into one assistant with shared memory. Inside the Amazon store it appears as Alexa for Shopping, where shoppers ask questions in plain language and get help deciding what to buy. Examples from Amazon include asking what is needed for a weekend camping trip, what the different types of coffee makers are, what a laptop's battery life is, and where a shampoo order is.
It is built for ordinary Amazon customers in the United States who shop in the Amazon Shopping app or on Amazon.com from a desktop or mobile browser. People researching an unfamiliar product category, comparing specifications, or checking an order without digging through menus get the most from it. Because Alexa remembers context for the logged-in profile, households that share Echo devices, Fire tablets or Fire TV can pick a shopping profile so preferences stay tied to the right person.
Practical scenarios include starting a gift or equipment search with a broad question, narrowing it down with follow-up questions, and then checking delivery on an existing order, all in one conversation. Chats carry across the Amazon app, Amazon.com, Alexa on Echo devices, Alexa.com and the Alexa app, so a shopper can pick up where they left off. Saved preferences and interests can be reviewed on the About You page, and recent store chats can be viewed and managed through the Review Alexa History page. Requests unrelated to shopping, such as timers or lights, redirect elsewhere.
