United States – Amazon Web Services has announced a new retail-focused artificial intelligence solution that allows retailers outside of Amazon to access technology and learnings derived from Alexa for Shopping. The offering, called Agentic Shopping Assistant (ASA) on AWS, is being delivered through the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center, which helps customers design, build, and launch AI solutions.
According to AWS, the new solution is based on the same foundation as Alexa for Shopping, but is customised for each retailer’s catalog, customer base, shopping environment, and brand voice. The company said the service includes architecture guidance, starter code, and support from AWS experts and system integrator partners, enabling retailers to deploy conversational shopping experiences within weeks instead of years.
AWS said Amazon’s AI shopping assistant generated nearly $12b in incremental sales last year and was used by more than 300 million customers. The company also recently introduced a new version of Alexa for Shopping that combines capabilities from Rufus and Alexa+.
The company positioned ASA on AWS as a way for retailers to maintain direct customer relationships as AI agents become more integrated into shopping experiences. AWS said conversational shopping sessions convert at 3.5 times the rate of traditional keyword search.
AWS added that retailers already have specialised knowledge about their products, customers, and categories that general-purpose AI systems may not replicate effectively. The company said ASA on AWS is designed to help retailers apply that expertise while maintaining ownership of customer relationships and proprietary insights.
The solution is built using AWS services including Amazon Bedrock, AgentCore, and OpenSearch. AWS said the technology has been validated through billions of shopping interactions on Amazon.com, with Amazon acting as “Customer Zero” for AWS testing and deployment.
AWS also stated that while the technical foundation is based on systems developed for Amazon.com, each retailer deployment is customised to its own environment and requirements. According to the company, implementations that previously took years to develop can now be deployed in roughly 60 days with support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center team.
