During its third-quarter earnings call, Amazon disclosed that over 400 million customers have turned to Alexa for Shopping within the past year. Meanwhile, Meta has positioned shopping as the primary function of Muse, the agent that Amazon blocked from its platform in September.
Adoption of shopping through external AI agents remains limited, according to Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy, who spoke to analysts on Thursday. The executive attributed this slow uptake to the current state of the technology, which he views as insufficient. Jassy indicated that Alexa for Shopping would emerge as the dominant shopping agent for Amazon customers.
Few customers are doing much shopping this way yet, as the experience is still not great, nor more convenient than coming to a retailer directly to research or one-click order there
Andy Jassy
Alexa for Shopping's numbers
Interaction volume with Alexa for Shopping surged 570% compared to the same period last year, according to Amazon's quarterly results. Jassy revealed that US customers who rely on the assistant place orders worth 50% more than those who do not use it.
Though we anticipate working with horizontal agents, we believe Alexa for Shopping is going to be the primary shopping agent customers use to shop Amazon
Andy Jassy
Horizontal agents—general-purpose assistants operating across multiple retailers, such as Muse—represent one category of shopping technology. Jassy contended that Amazon's proprietary assistant holds inherent advantages, having direct access to customer purchase history, delivery addresses and stored payment information.
The company has introduced more than 100 new features to the assistant. According to an Amazon blog post released alongside the earnings announcement, US customers can now instruct the agent to build and modify shopping lists and gift registries. Additional capabilities include adjusting delivery preferences, addressing questions about charges and refunds, and managing subscription orders.
Ads, and the case for Muse
Advertising revenue climbed 11% during the quarter, falling short of analyst expectations. Jassy dismissed the possibility that outside agents contributed to this shortfall and predicted advertising growth would rebound to the high teens during the holiday season.
Some market observers view Muse's performance as a significant indicator for Amazon's broader strategy. Bank of America analyst Justin Post highlighted this perspective in a recent research note.
Muse traction will likely drive questions on Amazon's agentic strategy
Justin Post
Meta has enlisted Shopify, Walmart and Best Buy as partners for Muse. Last week, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced that more than 10 million people across the US and Canada have activated the agent, with shopping emerging as its most frequently used function. The surge in shopping demand through Muse was so rapid that Meta needed Stripe to expand its transaction processing capacity. Walmart has also committed to enabling AI agents to make purchases on behalf of its customers.
Source: The Next Web
