Amazon announced on 6 November 2026 that a small group of US customers can begin shopping by text with Alexa for Shopping, its AI assistant for finding products and placing orders. Access starts by invitation, extending a service already available through Amazon’s app and website to a phone’s messaging screen. The assistant can search for items, suggest options, build a cart and complete a purchase once the customer is ready.
Key points
- Amazon is inviting a small group of US customers to shop with Alexa for Shopping by text.
- Requests can include written descriptions or photos; the assistant can suggest products and complete approved purchases.
- Amazon says the texting option will reach millions more customers in the coming weeks.
- Adweek reports that the invitation-only experience includes sponsored product ads.
Alexa for Shopping moves into messages
To begin, invited customers must accept the terms and link a phone number, Amazon says. They can then send a request in the form of a message or photograph. The assistant searches for products, compares options and replies with suggestions before adding selected items to a cart and completing a purchase. A request can be as simple as reordering something bought before, or as open-ended as finding a similar item from a photograph.
The change is in where the conversation begins. A product description that would otherwise have to be entered in the shopping app or on the website can go into a text thread, where the reply brings back options and the purchase can follow. Amazon says the assistant can also answer questions about orders and send delivery updates through messages. It describes the service as able to retain preferences a customer has shared for later recommendations.
Buying groceries could begin with a message listing what is needed, continue with suggested items and, once the choices are approved, end in an order. A question about the delivery could go back into the same conversation, rather than requiring another visit to the app.
Photos add another way to express a request when a product is easier to recognise than to name. Alexa for Shopping will look for matching results in Amazon listings after receiving a description, a photograph or both, The Verge reported. Amazon says the assistant can also surface products from other stores through Shop Direct. For a business whose products appear among those suggestions, the assistant’s choice of what to present becomes part of the route between a customer’s request and a sale.
Amazon’s 400 million customer figure
The text option builds on an assistant introduced in May 2026, according to The Verge. AI Affairs previously reported that Amazon’s Jassy backed Alexa for Shopping. The new channel puts that assistant in ordinary messages, alongside its existing places in the shopping app and on the website.
Amazon says more than 400 million customers have used Alexa for Shopping in the last 12 months. Amazon says the customer count for features that manage lists or arrange purchases, rather than simply answer questions, is now more than eight times its level at the beginning of 2026. Those are Amazon’s figures for the wider assistant, rather than figures for the invitation-only texting option.
Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Conversational Shopping, described the appeal as being able to send a shopping request at the moment it comes to mind. Amazon’s examples range from asking for gift suggestions to checking a previous order and setting an alert for a lower price. It says customers can approve a repeat purchase by text and can ask the assistant to remember preferences for later requests.
Amazon says the contact will appear on the phone as “Alexa Shopping”. The Verge gives the contact name as “Amazon Alexa”.
Sponsored products in Alexa’s text thread
The invitation-only texting experience includes sponsored product ads, Adweek reported. That places advertising in a conversation where the assistant can search, recommend and help complete an order. Amazon also says Alexa for Shopping can compare products using information including reviews and price history, and can watch for a price drop before notifying a customer.
Amazon says it is rolling out the ability to carry a request begun by text into Alexa for Shopping in its app, on its website or on Alexa-enabled devices, and to move a request in the other direction. A conversation could therefore begin with a brief message and continue elsewhere when more detailed comparison is useful. Amazon says the assistant will retain the request and preferences shared during those interactions.
Amazon says people without an invitation can sign up on its landing page for news and offers by text, placing them among those who will hear when further invitations are sent.
