Just when we thought online shopping couldn’t get any more frictionless, Amazon takes it to the next level — and it’s got AI driving the cart.
The newly launched Buy for Me feature empowers users to buy products from third-party websites directly within the Amazon app, with AI completing the purchase on their behalf.
But this isn’t just a logical next step for the e-commerce giant — it signals a much bigger shift: Amazon is not just expanding its retail reach, it’s redefining how we shop altogether. AI is no longer just recommending; it’s transacting.
However, Amazon isn’t the first one on this track.
In November 2024, the AI-powered answer engine Perplexity introduced its Pro Shopping Assistant, allowing users to browse, compare, and shop with direct links to third-party retailers curated by AI. Their approach hinted at a vision where AI connects users to products across the web, eliminating friction at every step.
Perplexity positioned it as a way to “shop smarter, not harder,” with a focus on transparency, price comparison, and convenience — a familiar theme now echoed by Amazon.
Now, Amazon builds on that foundation and pushes it even further by turning product discovery into action by introducing embedded, AI-powered purchasing into their already dominant shopping platform.
Amazon’s version fully integrates the checkout experience and uses agentic AI to take action throughout the customer journey on your behalf, filling out forms, submitting orders, and syncing delivery tracking, all while staying within the Amazon ecosystem.
And here’s the twist: Jeff Bezos is at the helm of Amazon and a key investor in Perplexity. It’s no coincidence that we’re now watching two AI-first powerhouses align their visions to define the future of digital commerce, each from a different angle.
What we’re seeing is a strategic stacking of capabilities, with both companies exploring how AI can revolutionize not just how we shop but who (or what) is actually doing the shopping.
While Amazon didn’t invent agentic AI, it is mainstreaming it, thus making this advanced capability part of everyday customer experiences for millions.
What Is “Buy for Me”, and Why Does It Matter?
Amazon’s Buy for Me allows users to shop from third-party brands without ever leaving the Amazon app. Using a combination of Amazon’s proprietary Nova AI system and Anthropic’s Claude AI, the feature performs tasks on the user’s behalf like opening external websites, auto-filling information, and completing purchases on third-party sites.
This is one of the first major commercial deployments of agentic AI, intelligent systems that don’t just suggest actions but actually take them. It redefines convenience for customers, shifting from tapping and swiping to simply delegating.
Order tracking remains within the Amazon app, but customer service and returns are still handled by the original retailer, maintaining visibility and accountability for these brands.
Currently, the feature is in limited testing in the U.S. on iOS and Android, with a few partner brands. However, Amazon’s pilot programs tend to scale fast.
Enter Amazon Alexa Plus: The Voice of Future Commerce
In February 2025, Amazon unveiled Alexa Plus, a generative AI-powered upgrade to its iconic voice assistant. Alexa has transformed from a scripted helper into a more conversational, context-aware, and capable assistant.
Unlike earlier versions, Alexa Plus can engage in natural conversation, understand context, and take more complex actions across your devices and accounts.
It means your voice assistant won’t just research product features and remind you to reorder products. It will suggest better deals, compare brands, place the order for you, and maybe even initiate the whole process before you say a word based on patterns in your behavior.
With Alexa Plus, Amazon is bridging the gap between voice-driven interfaces and agentic AI. Users can now engage in natural, back-and-forth conversations. It’s a future where shopping becomes an invisible, intuitive, and almost ambient experience.
For customers and the future of shopping, this changes everything.
Imagine telling your digital assistant that you need new equipment for your hobby. You say: “Alexa, I need new running shoes for muddy trails,” and instead of serving a list, Alexa asks follow-up questions about brand preference, budget, and color and then places an order through Buy for Me to complete the purchase autonomously, even if the shoes are sold on a different retailer’s site.
That’s how conversational commerce gets real.
The experience doesn’t stop at reactive commands. Alexa Plus is also capable of proactive assistance.
It can predict your purchasing behavior, keep track of when you’re running low on essentials, and prompt you with suggestions like “You’re almost out of coffee. Would you like to reorder the same brand or try something new?”
This type of interaction transforms Alexa into a personal shopping assistant that anticipates needs rather than waits for instructions. It might suggest bundled savings based on your habits and preferences before you even think
This evolution pushes the assistant, not the seller, to the forefront of the customer experience.
Combined with Buy for Me, Alexa Plus positions Amazon to own the interface for commerce, whether you’re browsing, talking, or letting AI shop autonomously.
Loyalty begins to shift from retailers to the AI interface that knows your needs, remembers your history, and does the work for you. When this assistant is embedded into your home, your devices, and your routines, Amazon essentially becomes the operating system for everyday commerce.
The Bigger Picture: Shopping Without Shopping
A clear theme emerges when we look at Perplexity Pro, Buy for Me, and Alexa Plus side by side: whether users are browsing visually, engaging by voice, or allowing AI to act entirely on their behalf.
It’s not just about shopping faster; it’s about making shopping invisible, intuitive, and effortless.
This leap from chat-based AI to action-based AI represents a paradigm shift that paves the way for the age of agentic AI, i.e., tools that are not only intelligent but autonomous enough to perform tasks with minimal input.
Customers are moving from active browsing to delegated decision-making. The future is not just about faster checkouts but eliminating the checkout altogether.
While the principles of Agentic AI have existed for years in research and innovation labs, Amazon’s and Perplexity’s implementations bring it squarely into the commercial spotlight.
These systems understand your intent, navigate digital environments, curate options, make decisions, and execute purchases fully autonomously.
This raises key questions for customer experience leaders, marketers, and retailers on how brands will preserve identity and engagement when interfaces like Alexa or Perplexity own the customer relationship.
Furthermore, data privacy has become even more critical. We need to start thinking about how to build trust in AI that shops for us, anticipates our needs, and handles sensitive information like credit cards and shipping data.
This new model signals a future where consumers rely on machine customers to complete tasks. And it is a future that demands reimagining CX.
Designing for Human and Machine Customers
We are entering a future where AI is the new front desk, the new sales rep, and increasingly, the one holding the credit card.
Amazon’s Buy for Me and Alexa Plus are not just features. They are signals of a shift toward automated commerce ecosystems, where the customer journey is less about browsing and more about belonging to a platform that knows you.
To succeed in this new reality, businesses must design experiences not only for people but for the intelligent agents acting on their behalf. If AI is doing the shopping, your digital experience must be readable, actionable, and optimized for machine customers.
The age of B2A (Business-to-Agents) in commerce has arrived. The question is: are we ready to serve AI agents as our primary customers? And what does loyalty look like when a machine is your most loyal shopper?
Would you trust an AI like Alexa Plus or Buy for Me to shop on your behalf? Is your customer experience strategy ready for a world where your next buyer might not be human? Have your say on CX Today’s Reddit Community.
Thanks to Sirte Pihlaja for sharing this article with CX Today.
Sirte Pihlaja, a globally recognized “AI Whisperer” and CX thought leader, pioneers Agentic AI in customer and employee experiences.
As CEO of Shirute and Head of Team at CXPA Finland, she helps organizations navigate AI-driven transformation with human-centric business models and CX and AI governance frameworks.
For more insights from Sirte Pihlaja, follow her on LinkedIn or subscribe to her podcast series AI Experience Podcast
