Amazon is integrating AI more deeply into the shopping process. On September 1st, the company launched a new feature called “Update Me When” which allows for notifications to be sent when there are new developments regarding brands, works, or products that users follow.
Reminders should be more closely aligned with consumer scenarios.
Users can set up items to follow. For example, when a brand releases new products, their favorite TV series gets updated, a singer announces a tour, an author publishes a new book, or a tech company launches a new product, Alexa will send out notifications.
Shift from passive Q&A to proactive suggestions
In the past, Alexa mainly responded to product information after users actively asked questions. Now, Amazon hopes that it can anticipate which changes might lead to a purchase in advance and remind users at the right time.
More shopping features are now available simultaneously.
Amazon also showcased a number of shopping-related AI features, including price tracking, personalized discount recommendations, shopping guides, historical price inquiries, list transcription, product comparisons, and AI product overviews. Some of the price reminder functions can even place orders automatically when certain conditions are met.
- "Update Me When" is first manually set by the user to designate the reminder recipient.
- Price tracking can trigger notifications based on a target price or discount percentage.
- Amazon is also testing more proactive ways of shopping recommendations.
