Dive Brief:
- Amazon introduced its Agentic Shopping Assistant tool on Amazon Web Services on Wednesday, the e-commerce giant said in a company blog post.
- With the tool, retailers can launch their own AI shopping agents in weeks instead of building the technology themselves. The tool can be customized for each retailer’s shopping environment, clientele, brand voice and product assortment.
- Tapestry used the tool to create its Kate Spade AI Gift Concierge in April, which guides shoppers to find the ideal gift for the recipient.
Dive Insight:
Amazon is expanding its AI efforts beyond its own shopping experience with the Agentic Shopping Assistant on AWS. The company is selling the effort as a way for retailers to build conversational shopping experiences efficiently while preserving their customer relationships.
In its blog post, Amazon said that conversational shopping sessions boast 3.5 times higher conversion rates compared to traditional keyword product searches.
Built using Amazon’s Bedrock AgentCore infrastructure, Kate Spade’s new tool uses information from the queries customers posed to Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping tool and those answers that led to sales, the announcement noted. Tapestry tested it for about 2.5 months before offering it to consumers, according to the blog post.
Shortly before its latest launch announcement, Amazon debuted Alexa for Shopping, which analysts say could familiarize more consumers with AI shopping agents. The company introduced the AI shopping assistant to U.S. users in May, allowing them to enter questions into its search bar and receive conversational responses. The tool will replace the Rufus AI shopping assistant, which the company launched in 2024.
Experts warn that relying on external AI tools could create some distance between prospective customers and retailers. As platforms like Gemini and ChatGPT play a greater role in connecting consumers with their desired products, collapsing that journey in an external tool could shift the power balance between tech platforms and retailers, Kartik Hosanagar, marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview with Retail Dive.
