Amazon has launched Rufus, an innovative AI-powered shopping companion that the company claims will enhance users’ shopping experience by allowing them to ask questions, compare products, and discover new items easily. Rufus is available in beta for customers in India, Amazon said in a statement.  

From broad research at the start of a shopping journey, such as “things to consider when buying a washing machine”, to comparisons, such as “Should I get a fitness band or a smartwatch?” to more specific questions, such as “are these durable?”, Rufus meaningfully improves how easy it is for customers to find and discover the best products to meet their needs, integrated seamlessly into the same Amazon shopping experience they use regularly, Amazon added.    

Perks of using Rufus  

• Key Considerations for Savvy Shoppers: Customers can conduct more general product research on Amazon.in, asking questions such as “What to consider when buying headphones?” or “Things to consider when choosing the right moisturizer” and receiving helpful information to guide their shopping mission.  
• Find What You’re Looking For: Customers can search for and discover products based on activity, event, purpose, and other specific use cases by asking various questions. Rufus suggests shoppable product categories—from consumer electronics to Fashion, beauty, and Home Decor—and related questions that customers can click on to conduct more specific searches.   
• Weigh Your Options: Customers can ask Rufus to compare product category features quickly. This allows them to find the type of product that best suits their needs and make even more confident purchase decisions.  
• Expert Recommendations: Customers can ask for recommendations for precisely what they need. Rufus generates results tailored to the specific question, making it quick and easy for customers to browse more refined results.  
• Stay Ahead of the Curve: Customers can shop based on the latest products and trends by asking Rufus to help keep them up-to-date with questions like, “Suggest top gaming laptops”.  
• Product-Specific Support: Customers can tap “What do customers say?” to get a quick and helpful overview of customer reviews on a specific product detail page. Customers can also use Rufus to quickly get answers to specific questions about individual products when they view the product’s detail page, such as “Is this jacket machine washable?”. Rufus will generate answers based on listing details, customer reviews, and community Q&As.  

With Rufus, customers can shop alongside a generative AI-powered expert who knows Amazon’s selection inside and out and can combine it with information from across the web to help them make more informed purchase decisions.  

Experience the Future of AI-powered shopping with Rufus Beta  

Select customers can now access Rufus when they update their Amazon.in shopping app. Customers in the beta can utilise Rufus by clicking on an icon in the lower right corner of the Amazon mobile app, which will lead to a dialogue window for Rufus chat to appear on their screen. Customers can ask follow-up questions in the chat dialogue box, tap on suggested questions, and expand the chat dialogue box to view answers to their inquiries.  

At any point, users can swipe down to move the conversation dialogue box back to the bottom of their screen and dismiss Rufus to go back to their standard search results.  

In order to assist customers in making better, more educated buying decisions, Rufus provides replies using pertinent information from across Amazon.in and the web. “It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right. We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to make Rufus more helpful over time continuously,” says Amazon. 

Source: Amazon