Amazon (AMZN) has merged its Rufus shopping assistant and Alexa+ assistant into a single tool called Alexa for Shopping, available for free to U.S. customers as of May 13, 2026. The platform retains shoppers’ history and preferences, featuring a year-long price history and AI-driven purchasing capabilities. Rufus had already assisted over 300 million customers in 2025, generating nearly $12 billion in incremental sales for Amazon that year.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has also launched the Agentic Shopping Assistant, enabling retailers to create branded conversational AI assistants. Initial partnerships include Tapestry’s Kate Spade. Amazon’s advertising revenue rose 24% to $17.2 billion in Q1, alongside a 17% increase in net sales to $181.5 billion. However, challenges remain, as trailing-12-month free cash flow plummeted from $25.9 billion to $1.2 billion amid rising AI-related expenses totaling $59.3 billion.
In contrast, competitors Walmart (WMT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are also advancing in agentic commerce. Walmart’s Sparky assistant is live, with users reporting average order values 35% higher than non-users. Alphabet has integrated a Gemini-powered AI mode for its shopping search. Both companies are developing their own assistant technologies, aiming to capture the growing market of conversational commerce.
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