Amazon adds ‘update me when’ feature to Alexa for Shopping

Amazon has added two new capabilities to Alexa for Shopping, its artificial intelligence (AI) retail agent. The updates let shoppers track new product releases across the web and verify whether suspicious emails or texts actually came from Amazon. The mass merchant detailed both features in separate blog posts this week, saying they are now available to U.

S. shoppers. The first feature, called Update Me When, allows shoppers to ask Alexa to track both Amazon. com and the broader web for incoming releases. Customers can ask it to follow specific products, books or television shows, receiving an alert as soon as the agent spots a match.

Meanwhile, the second update targets the growing problem of impersonation fraud. Shoppers can ask Alexa to check whether an email, text message or phone call actually originated from Amazon. The assistant then compares the data to internal records of communications Amazon has already sent, according to the company.

Amazon first introduced Alexa for Shopping in May. The agent combines capabilities from Rufus, the AI shopping assistant Amazon released in 2024, with Alexa+, an upgraded version of its voice assistant powered by generative AI.

Among other capabilities, Alexa for Shopping can compare products, show price histories, find deals, shop on a user’s behalf and add items directly to carts. Amazon ranks No. 1 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 Database. The market research tool tracks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. However, Amazon is No.

158 in Digital Commerce 360’s all-new AI Rankings. That set of rankings is available in the Top 1000 Pro with AI Database. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. That database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). How does Amazon ‘update me when’ alert feature work?

Alexa for Shopping already tracks prices and can alert shoppers or complete purchases when a target price is reached. Update Me When adds a different kind of monitoring, alerting customers to new products and other releases. Importantly, the assistant can scan not just Amazon’s catalog, but the wider web.

For example, a shopper might ask Alexa to update them when an artist announces a tour or an author releases a book, wrote Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of conversational shopping, in an updated Sep. 1 blog post. Alexa can also notify users about new product lines, TV seasons and technology launch dates, according to Mehta.

For example, a customer could ask Alexa, “Update me when new cooperative board games for 4+ players release” or “Update me when a new Kindle releases.” Can Alexa for Shopping tell whether an Amazon message is real?

Amazon said it receives roughly 360,000 inquiries each year from customers asking whether a communication claiming to be from the company is authentic. With the new AI feature, shoppers can now route those questions directly to Alexa for Shopping. To verify a message, customers tell the agent who sent it, when it arrived and what it said.

Amazon said the agent then analyzes details such as the sender, content, timing and formatting. It then compares those details with records of billions of messages sent by Amazon teams around the world. Within seconds, Alexa provides one of three responses: The communication came from Amazon. The communication did not appear to come from Amazon.

The communication could not be verified. Amazon noted that Alexa only marks a message as authentic when it is “completely certain.” If a message does not match Amazon’s records, the agent advises the customer not to click links or reply. It may also direct the customer to review recent orders or contact Amazon customer service.

When Alexa can’t reach a conclusion, customers can provide more details or try another verification method. That includes forwarding suspicious communications to verify@amazon. com.

Every submitted communication is automatically routed to Amazon’s customer protection and enforcement team, which uses the data to identify new fraud patterns and investigate bad actors, the company said. The feature is initially available in the U. S. , with plans to expand it to other regions.

The rollout arrives as impersonation fraud continues to cause significant financial damage. In 2025, the Federal Trade Commission reported that losses of $10,000 or more reported by adults 60 and older due to business and government impersonation scams had surged more than fourfold since 2020.

One of the most frequent schemes involves bad actors pretending to represent “a well-known company like Amazon” while claiming to flag suspicious account activity, the agency noted. How much do shoppers trust AI shopping assistants? Shoppers are increasingly using AI to research products.

Still, survey data shows that many are still hesitant to follow an agent’s suggesti