Alexa as a shopping assistant

Amazon has announced an evolution in its voice assistant Alexa, called Alexa+. This new experience is designed to enhance grocery shopping from home, allowing for more natural conversations and fluid requests. Users will be able to interact with Alexa while creating their shopping list, facilitating the purchase of fresh products through Amazon Fresh and other grocery partners. Additionally, delivery from partners like Uber Eats will be available.

With Alexa+, it will no longer be necessary to simply list ingredients verbally. For instance, during a demonstration, a user asked Alexa to gather everything needed to make banana bread, excluding the spices, and also mentioned needing Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix, along with syrup and eggs. Alexa understood these natural language requests and turned them into grocery list items. It will be possible to adjust quantities on the fly, such as requesting “two and a half gallons of milk” instead of one.

Moreover, Alexa will be able to suggest recipes suitable for children, such as pasta options for a five-year-old guest. This shopping approach resembles a “stream of consciousness” style conversation, where users can communicate without rigidity. The upgrade to Alexa+ will be available starting in March as an update for existing Alexa devices. The service will cost $19.99 per month but will be free for all Prime members.