Amazon’s big Prime Day pitch is its AI assistant. Is it working?
It’s a big moment for Amazon. The online retail giant’s misnamed Prime Day, which actually stretches across half a week and ends June 26, is in full swing, with blockbuster discounts on a vast swathe of products. But rather than leaving shoppers to click, compare, and hunt for deals on their own, Amazon is pushing its AI tools hard. Videos touting the ability to integrate Alexa, or Rufus, Amazon’s AI text chatbot, into the shopping experience are a new addition this year. An interesting Prime Day video featuring Amazon Alexa. 👀Quick poll:When shopping on Amazon now, what do you use more often?🟢 Alexa🔵 The search bar pic.twitter.com/bdiWEng7ze— Can Chan｜TikTok AI (@canchanai) June 25, 2026 It’s a sign of how the company sees the future of online retail, and the strategy is backed up by broader consumer trends. More than half of U.S. shoppers are now willing to let AI handle the entire shopping process, including the final purchase, once their preferences are set, according to payments platform Adyen. Early signs suggest that Amazon’s use of AI, and shoppers’ own use of AI, has been effective. Adobe, which tracks online shopping behavior during Prime Day and other events, says traffic from AI sources has converted into sales 50.7% better than traffic from non-AI sources. Shoppers who arrived at Amazon from AI sources also spent nearly half as long on the site as other visitors. But when it comes to concrete evidence of success within Amazon’s own tools, the picture is murkier. Experts say that may come down to the unpredictable habits of shoppers. There’s a gap between how Amazon imagines its AI tools being used and how bargain-hunting shoppers are actually using them, says Julian Skelly, managing partner for retail at Publicis Sapient. For now, he says, many shoppers are turning to tools like Rufus mainly to verify whether a discount is real. That may be helpful, but it falls short of Amazon’s larger ambition. “They want it to be a shopping companion,” he sa