Amazon replaces Rufus with Alexa for Shopping as its AI commerce assistant

At a glance:

• Amazon is retiring Rufus, its e-commerce AI assistant, and replacing it with Alexa for Shopping, available to all US customers within a week at no charge.
• The new feature combines Rufus' product expertise with Alexa Plus' personalized knowledge and works across the Amazon Shopping app, Amazon.com, and Echo Show devices — no Prime membership required.
• Alexa for Shopping can compare products, track price histories, set price alerts, schedule recurring purchases, and even purchase items from other retailers through the Buy for Me AI feature.

Amazon phases out Rufus in favor of Alexa for Shopping

Amazon has announced that Rufus — its dedicated AI shopping assistant named after a corgi that once roamed the company's first warehouse in 1996 — is being replaced by a new feature called Alexa for Shopping. The rollout to all US customers is expected within a week. The feature will be accessible through the Amazon Shopping app, the Amazon website, and Echo Show devices, and it is completely free for anyone who signs in to their Amazon account. A Prime subscription is not required.

On mobile, customers will need to update their Amazon Shopping app and look for the Alexa icon in the bottom navigation bar. On desktop, Alexa for Shopping appears in the menu banner near the top of Amazon pages. The company has positioned this as a natural evolution rather than a simple rebrand, merging two existing AI efforts into a single, more capable shopping companion.

How the feature combines Rufus and Alexa Plus

Amazon said Alexa for Shopping brings together Rufus' deep product expertise with the personalized knowledge and contextual awareness of Alexa Plus. Alexa Plus is Amazon's newer generative AI assistant, designed to be more conversational and capable than the original command-oriented Alexa. It is available on the Amazon app, Echo devices, Alexa.com, and Amazon.com, and can already help users find restaurants, plan their weekly schedules, and manage smart-home devices.

With the integration, Amazon said data shared across all Alexa-enabled devices will be used to help Alexa Plus surface relevant products, compare items side by side, track prices, reorder previous purchases, and deliver personalized recommendations. The goal is to create what Rajiv Mehta, Amazon's vice president of conversational shopping, described as "a personal shopper who already knows you and remembers your preferences, your past purchases, and your conversations — you don't have to start over."

Price alerts, purchase scheduling, and cross-retailer buying

Beyond recommendations, Alexa for Shopping introduces several practical commerce features. Customers can set price alerts so they are notified when the cost of a specific product drops below a threshold they define. The feature also lets users view price histories for products over the past year, compare items in a side-by-side view, and schedule recurring purchases for products they buy regularly.

Notably, Alexa for Shopping is not limited to Amazon's own catalog. The company said customers can use the Buy for Me AI feature to purchase items from other online retailers. Typically, Buy for Me searches other websites when a product is unavailable on Amazon, using the customer's saved address and credit card information to complete the transaction.

Privacy controls and data usage

Because Alexa for Shopping draws on data from across a customer's Alexa-enabled ecosystem, Amazon highlighted the Alexa Privacy Dashboard as a key companion tool. Customers can access the dashboard on desktop or through the app under More > Alexa Privacy to manage whether voice recordings are stored and for how long, review what Alexa has heard, and read through previous chat histories. The company framed these controls as giving users transparency and agency over the data that powers the personalized shopping experience.

AI shopping assistants become the norm

Amazon's move comes as AI-powered shopping assistants have become a competitive fixture across major retail platforms. Walmart offers Sparky, eBay has ShopBot, Sephora provides AI-driven beauty recommendations, and Home Depot features its Material List Builder tool. By folding Rufus into the broader Alexa Plus framework, Amazon is betting that a unified, conversational AI — one that spans shopping, smart-home control, and daily scheduling — will prove stickier than a standalone product-search tool. How quickly customers adopt Alexa for Shopping and whether the cross-retailer Buy for Me feature gains traction will be the key metrics to watch in the coming weeks.