American multinational e-commerce giant, Amazon, has announced the launch of a new Artificial Intelligence shopping assistant called ‘Rufus’ to enhance users’ shopping experience.
Rufus is an expert shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalog and information from across the web to answer customer questions on shopping needs, products, and comparisons, as well as make recommendations based on context, and facilitate product discovery.
The tool is designed to help users search for products. Shoppers can get to type or speak a question into the search bar in Amazon’s mobile app and a chat window will appear at the bottom of the screen.
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Announcing the roll-out of the feature, Amazon wrote via a blog post,
“Amazon has been using Al very expansively for 25+ years to improve customer experiences. The personalized recommendations customers get when they shop at Amazon’s store, the pick paths in our fulfillment centers, our drone deliveries, the conversational capabilities of Alexa, and our checkout-free Amazon Go stores are just a few examples of experiences fueled by Al. And we believe generative Al is going to change virtually all customer experiences that we know.
“This past year, we’ve introduced a number of new generative Al-powered capabilities in Amazon’s store to make shopping even easier and more convenient. Our Al-generated review highlights provide customers with common themes from dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of reviews at a glance to help them quickly understand customer insights.
“We also recently introduced our Fit Review Highlights feature, which offers personalized size guidance and insights so customers can determine which size will fit them best. We are also using generative Al to make the product listings even more informative for customers by helping our selling partners write more engaging and effective titles and product descriptions, and enrich existing listings.”
Amazon disclosed that the AI Shopping Assistant Rufus, will be launched in Beta version, and it will be rolled out to customers in waves, beginning with a small subset of customers in the U.S using the mobile app, and will subsequently roll out to the rest of its U.S. customers in the coming weeks.
Check Out Some Remarkable Features of Amazon AI Shopping Assistant Rufus;
Customers Can Get help comparing product categories:
Customers can now ask get help comparing product categories such as “What’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?”, so they can find the type of product that best suits their needs and make even more confident purchase decisions.
Find the best recommendations:
Customers can ask for recommendations for exactly what they need, and then Rufus generates results tailored to the specific question and makes it quick and easy for them to browse more refined results.
Ask questions about a specific product while on a product detail page:
Customers can use Rufus to quickly get answers to specific questions about individual products when they are viewing the product’s detail page. Rufus will generate answers based on listing details, customer reviews, and community Q&As.
With Rufus, customers are now able to shop alongside a generative Al-powered expert that knows Amazon’s selection inside and out, arid can bring it all together with information from across the web to help them make more informed purchase decisions.
LinkedIn Summary
Amazon shares jumped in early trading Friday, after it released its fourth-quarter earnings that handily beat expectations Thursday. The nation’s second-largest retailer benefitted from brisk holiday shopping and a special sales event. Revenue surged 14% from the year-earlier period, to $170 billion. Net income shot to a two-year high of $10.6 billion, or $1 per share, following cost-cutting measures beginning in late 2022 that resulted in more than 27,000 layoffs. The e-commerce giant’s cloud-computing arm, meanwhile, saw sales increase by an expected 13% — higher than the 12% increase of the last quarter but below the 20% expansion seen a year earlier.
- Amazon also announced that it is unleashing a new shopping assistant powered by generative AI. Dubbed Rufus, the tool uses generative AI to make recommendations and answer questions.
- The company, which has rolled out commercials on its Prime Video streaming service, also saw ad revenue rocket 27% higher, to $14.7 billion — the fourth quarter of faster sales.
- The company has emerged from a post-pandemic slump with a reorganized logistics business and is finding new efficiencies with artificial intelligence.