Amazon Launches AI-Powered Shopping Guides to Streamline Customer Experience

Amazon debuts AI-powered Shopping Guides

On Wednesday Amazon introduced the latest in a series of AI features and products aimed at consumers with the launch of AI shopping guides. The guides, arriving tomorrow, will span over 100 product types on Amazon.com and will help to consolidate the key information consumers tend to research before making a purchase as well as provide a list of the most trusted brands in that category. The retailer explains the new feature is aimed at speeding up the time it takes a customer to decide which item is right for them, making the shopping and buying process easier. The guides don't just focus on consumers' larger purchases, like a new TV, camping tent, kitchen appliance, or rug for the home, but also include more everyday items, like dog food, moisturizers, running shoes, headphones, and more, the company says in an announcement. In addition, the guides will help consumers narrow their options by browsing through a refined set of products based on their needs -- a feature that could help online shoppers overwhelmed by the abundance of products available on Amazon's virtual shelves. Within each guide, customers are guided to insights and educational content about the product type, including what others say about the product, sourced from reviews, plus use cases, key features, popular brands, terminology used, and more. From the guides, consumers will also be able to access Rufus, Amazon's recently launched AI shopping assistant and chatbot. The company notes it's leveraging generative AI to scale the AI Shopping Guides across its product lineup using large language models (LLMs), which help it learn which information should be included in each guide. The technology, built using Amazon Bedrock, will also keep the guide updated and current as things change. The guides will initially be available in the Amazon Shopping app on iOS and Android in the U.S., starting on Thursday, October 10th. Once live, they'll appear in the search autocomplete suggestions, when available. Access to the guides will also be found in the "Keep Shopping For" card on Amazon's homepage, which will showcase guides related to your recent browsing activity on the site. Consumers can also visit popular guides directly at Amazon.com/AIShoppingGuides. The retailer plans to expand beyond the 100 product types in the weeks and months ahead but did not note if or when they would roll out in additional languages. The AI Shopping Guides are among a growing handful of AI-powered features Amazon has launched for consumers, including not only its AI chatbot, Rufus, but also its generative AI-enhanced review highlights, AI tech for finding clothes that fit, visual search features, and AI-generated product information.

Amazon debuts AI 'Shopping Guides' | Digital Trends

Amazon debuted its new AI-powered "Shopping Guide" feature on Wednesday. It will help inform online shoppers about the technical details and brand leaders of more than 100 types of products, from dog food to TVs. The AI Shopping Guides are arriving Thursday on the U.S.-based iOS and Android apps, as well as the Amazon.com website. They're designed to reduce the time you spend researching a potential purchase by summarizing key points and important information alongside product listings filtered for your specific needs. "Whether you're looking for the right camping tent for your first backpacking trip, buying the best shoes for running in the rain, or the perfect new kitchen appliance, you can turn to AI Shopping Guides for help," the company wrote in a Wednesday blog post. Recommended Videos The company is leveraging large language models, specifically Amazon's Bedrock, to surface user reviews, helpful attributes, use cases, features, brands, and key terminology about its various product types. The system can also keep those details up to date as trends change and new products are released. To access the shopping guides, you'll need to search for a covered product, and the guide option will appear in the search autocomplete suggestions if available. The guides can also be accessed through the "Keep Shopping For" card on Amazon's homepage. The company plans to expand the feature beyond the initial 100+ product types in the coming months, though there is not yet a firm timetable for that. There's also no word yet on when or if the feature will be expanded beyond English-language searches. AI shopping guides are just one of Amazon's numerous AI-based initiatives. The company debuted Rufus, its AI shopping assistant, in February, followed by Maestro, its AI playlist generator, in April. Amazon also incorporated AI search results into its Fire TV UI in May.

Amazon's new AI guides know what you want to buy before you do

Amazon is infusing AI into a new facet of its online shopping experience with the release of its AI Shopping Guides. The new feature aims to take over the product research part of hunting for a product by employing generative AI models that make personalized companions for your search. You can try it on Amazon's website and mobile app, though just in the U.S. for now, and see guides for more than 100 categories of products. The AI Shopping Guides start with a standard search for an item. Along with the usual list, you'll see an AI guide appear if there is one for the category you're looking at. When you open the guidebook, you'll see an AI-curated collection of information about the products, including basic information, charts comparing different specs, and reviews from previous purchasers. The AI models create guides that analyze all of the information Amazon has about the products available for sale and how people review them to write their own descriptions. It will even rewrite the descriptions so that you can understand some of the terms you might not know. The AI will then write custom recommendations for you based on its analysis of both the products and your own search and purchase history. Notably, using AI to keep scanning product listings means the AI Shopping Guides will stay up-to-date even as new products come out and old ones are updated or removed. The AI Shopping Guides also act to augment the Rufus AI chatbot, which Amazon deployed to offer AI-powered research and recommendations. Rufus makes the AI Shopping Guides interactive by answering follow-up questions you might have, personalizing your look for a product even further by, for instance, answering a question about two similar products by not only comparing them to each other but to products in a similar category you might have previously bought. Rufus also includes some suggestions based less on your history and more on what companies have paid to have advertisements relayed by the AI. Amazon has also hinted at plans to further personalize its recommendations by using (with your permission) data from Gmail and YouTube.

Research less, shop more: How Amazon's AI Shopping Guides help you find what you need

The sheer abundance of deals can get overwhelming. Amazon's guides are rolling out to US customers across more than 100 product types. The holiday season is quickly approaching and -- if Amazon's October Prime Day sale is any indicator -- the deals will be wide-ranging and abundant. This abundance of deals -- while it's almost any shopper's dream -- can get overwhelming. Also: Prime Day is over: These are the 100+ best deals still live Now, Amazon is releasing a new shopping tool that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers research products and provide recommendations when they're browsing the e-commerce site. Amazon's AI-powered "Shopping Guides" are being rolled out in the US on Amazon's mobile website and apps for iOS and Android, allowing users to access specific product information for more than 100 product types, "ranging from TVs, area rugs, dog food, and running shoes, to headphones and face moisturizers. " The AI Shopping Guides, according to Amazon, are expected to "reduce the time spent researching before you purchase by proactively consolidating key information you need alongside a relevant selection of products, making it easier to find the right product for your needs quickly and easily [and] to help you make informed purchase decisions." Moreover, each guide is geared to your shopping needs, so you'll view a "highly relevant selection" in the guide and then switch from learning mode to browsing a more refined lineup of products. For example, you select a shopping guide for Expresso machines, and the guide will display a recommended selection of machines based on popularity, customer reviews, and pricing. The guide also presents "factors to consider," which break down each product into specific use-case categories by brand. According to Amazon, the AI Shopping Guides "will automatically appear for autocompleted suggestions" when you search for a product or can be explored here to see what guides are currently available. "You can also click a 'Keep Shopping For' card from the top of Amazon's homepage to see AI Shopping Guides relevant to your recent shopping activity."

Amazon Introduces AI Shopping Guides to Enhance Experience for US Customers

The guides utilise Amazon Bedrock to build and scale generative AI applications. Amazon has launched AI Shopping Guides, a new feature aimed at simplifying the product discovery process for customers. Available on the Amazon Shopping app (iOS and Android) and the mobile website, AI Shopping Guides are available to all customers in the US. According to Amazon, these guides provide valuable information on over 100 product types, including electronics, pet supplies, and personal care items. Also Read: Orange Poland Offers GenAI-Powered Smartphone Comparison Assistant Powered by generative AI, the AI Shopping Guides act as a virtual product expert, offering insights on essential features, terminology, and trusted brands tailored to individual customer needs. For instance, shoppers can specify their skin type when looking for a face moisturiser and receive personalised recommendations. "When shopping for a new product, it can be difficult to understand the options available or know the right questions to ask," said Dan Lloyd, vice president of personalisation at Amazon. "With AI Shopping Guides, we're pairing helpful product information and guidance with Earth's largest selection to help customers understand a product type, discover the most trusted brands, and find the best product for their needs." Amazon says the AI Shopping Guides utilise large language models (LLMs) to continually update and refine product information, ensuring relevance amid changing trends and technologies. "The LLMs then generate tailored guide descriptions based on this information, paired with product recommendations. AI Shopping Guides are built using Amazon Bedrock, which provides scalable access to the latest foundation models and AI tools that make it the most efficient way to build and scale generative AI applications," Amazon explained. Customers can access these guides through search autocomplete suggestions or the "Keep Shopping For" tab on the Amazon homepage. "It's early days, but we believe AI Shopping Guides will improve how customers discover, explore, and stay informed about the products they want and need," said Lloyd. "We're excited to continue enhancing the shopping experience with practical, useful AI innovations so customers can feel confident in their purchases." Also Read: SAP Expands Its AI Copilot Joule with Collaborative Capabilities What are LLMs? Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence that can generate human-quality text. They are trained on massive amounts of text data, which allows them to learn patterns and relationships between words and phrases. This enables them to generate text that is coherent, informative and close to human-written text. What is Amazon Bedrock? Amazon Bedrock is a managed service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models (FMs) from AI companies. These models are pre-trained on massive datasets, allowing developers to build generative AI applications easily and efficiently.