Amazon Makes AI Shopping Assistant Rufus Available to All U.S. Shoppers as Prime Day Kicks Off – Retail TouchPoints

Amazon has made its generative AI-powered conversational shopping assistant Rufus available to all U.S. customers the day before its 10^th annual Prime Day sales event kicks off on July 16.

Rufus first debuted in beta for a small number of U.S. users in February 2024, and now all U.S. app users will find Rufus ready and waiting to help them make their purchases. Customers must make sure their Amazon Shopping app is up to date, and then they can tap the Rufus icon in the navigation bar to ask their question.

“While it’s still early days for both generative AI and Rufus, we’re excited to hear customers are using Rufus to help them make more informed shopping decisions,” said Rajiv Mehta, VP of Search and Conversational Shopping at Amazon in a blog post. “As we continue to grow and improve upon Rufus, we’re looking forward to seeing how customers continue to use it to find exactly what they need or want in our store.”

Customers have already asked Rufus tens of millions of questions, according to Mehta. Among the types of queries Rufus can handle, beyond a typical product search, are:

• Specific product questions: Rufus will share answers based on information found in product listing details, customer reviews and community Q&As;
• Advice on product selection, such as “What are the best wireless outdoor speakers?” or “What are the best lawn games for kids’ birthday parties?”;
• Comparing product features by asking questions such as “What’s the difference between gas and wood-fired pizza ovens?” or “Compare OLED and QLED TVs”;
• Product tracking by asking questions like “Where is my order?” or “When are my dog treats arriving?”; and
• Broader questions not immediately tied to shopping requests such as “What do I need to make a soufflé?” or “What do I need for a summer party?”

A number of leading retailers have been testing out gen AI-powered chatbots to enhance the online shopping experience, including Walmart and Ikea.