Amazon has begun rolling out a new way for some shoppers in the United States to shop using their phone's text messaging app: they can now text Alexa directly with requests like "reorder the detergent" or "tell me when AirPods go on sale," and the AI assistant will search, compare, build your cart and place the order — all within a single text thread.
The feature, called Alexa for Shopping, started being rolled out on November 6 to a small group of customers by invitation only, and Amazon says millions more will receive invites in the coming weeks. It can show up to a full year of price history for an item and watch for price drops before the holiday sales, making it particularly useful ahead of Black Friday on November 27.
To join, an invited customer receives a text message, accepts the terms of service, links their phone number and begins texting. The contact appears as "Alexa Shopping" on their phone's address book. From there, users can send requests in natural language — a weekly grocery order, a birthday gift due by Saturday, a photo of an outfit spotted while scrolling, or a three-item to-do list in one message. Alexa replies with suggestions, adds items to your cart, and when you are ready, completes the purchase.
Amazon's example screens show the flow clearly: Alexa finds the item, shows the total and delivery date, and waits for you to tap "Place order." After the order goes through, the thread shows an "Undo order" button.
What you can ask it to do includes reordering something, checking price history, watching for a price drop, shopping from a photo, tracking a package, managing lists, and looking beyond Amazon through a feature called Shop Direct, which shows products from other stores on the web. A request started in a text can carry over to the Amazon app, the website and Alexa devices, and the other way round. Amazon also says your order updates, delivery notices and deals will land in the same thread over time.
Getting an invite is straightforward: watch for a text from Amazon inviting you to try it, sign up on Amazon's own page at amazon.com/text-alexa-shopping to hear when more invites go out, then accept the terms and link your phone number. One habit worth keeping is that if a text about Alexa shopping arrives with a link, you do not have to tap it — type amazon.com into your browser and go to the sign-up page yourself.
The key question is where the approval steps sit. For reorders, Amazon says Alexa finds the item and buys it "with your approval." You can also tell it to add items to your cart automatically, or set auto-buy to complete a purchase when the price hits your target. The downside is that the assistant learns from your shopping history and what you tell it, so treat every text to it as something Amazon keeps. Before linking your number, check which card is your default payment method on Amazon, because that is the one a text order will use. If you share a phone or tablet with kids, think twice about turning on automatic buying at all.
Amazon says more than 400 million customers used Alexa for Shopping in the last 12 months, so this is not a small test. If you already shop on Amazon every week, texting it could save a few taps. If you prefer to see every price before you pay, keep using the app and leave the auto features off.