Amazon said shoppers in the US would be able to use its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, Alexa for Shopping, to search for products and complete purchases via text message.
The company has started introducing the conversational commerce service by invitation to an initial group of US users.
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Access is scheduled to broaden to millions of shoppers across the country over the coming weeks.
After linking a telephone number and agreeing to the terms of service, users can interact with the system under the contact name “Alexa Shopping”.
From their SMS interface, shoppers can run item searches, assemble shopping carts, finalise orders, and obtain delivery notifications.
Through its Shop Direct feature, the service combines product information from Amazon and external web retailers.
Text messaging capabilities include locating items, handling multi-item lists, and reordering previous purchases with user authorisation.
Conversations started by SMS can be continued and concluded within the Amazon Shopping application, on Amazon’s website, or across Alexa-enabled devices.
The tool also stores customer preferences, such as dietary rules and lifestyle choices, to tailor future automated suggestions.
Amazon stated that over 400 million customers used Alexa for Shopping in the past 12 months.
This text functionality builds on Amazon’s wider automated commerce tools, which cover list and registry management, automated recurring tasks, and auto-buy settings.
Amazon conversational shopping vice president Rajiv Mehta said: “Customers often jot down what they need the moment they think of it in their notes, in their messages, in their group chats.
“Now with Alexa for Shopping, your personal shopping agent is just a text away. Message it what you need, and Alexa goes to work on your behalf – searching, comparing, and buying so you can get on with your day.”
For the third quarter ended 30 September 2026, Amazon posted a 12.1% year-on-year rise in net sales, helped by robust services growth and higher demand for everyday essentials and groceries.
