Amazon launched “Alexa for Shopping” yesterday, combining its Rufus shopping AI (which they say has assisted more than 300 million customers) with Alexa+ into a single AI shopping assistant. It’s free for all U.S. customers, no Prime membership required.
In early 2025, Alexa+ launched at $19.99 per month. Amazon has never made money on Alexa, and they’ve invested $8 billion in Anthropic to power it. A subscription fee for a shopping AI was always the wrong model. Every purchase the AI facilitates runs through Amazon’s transaction rails. The subscription was a rounding error compared to owning the purchase itself.
What’s interesting is what the AI actually does. It tracks price history for up to a year across hundreds of millions of products, auto-buys at target prices you set, and compares across retailers through Shop Direct. It fills your cart, watches for deals while you sleep, and executes purchases on your behalf. Will you trust an AI to spend your money? Amazon is betting you will. Personally, I can’t wait to try it!
It’s a different story if you’re an Amazon seller. AI is likely to become an important (if not your most important) customer. You’ll need to optimize your product descriptions and pricing strategies for an algorithm, and that algorithm will optimize for the buyer, not you.
Every company needs a Claw strategy. Do you have one?
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.