Amazon is playing hardball in the AI shopping wars. According to TechCrunch, the e-commerce giant just launched a feature letting customers text Alexa to shop, as the holiday season begins. Amazon blocked Meta's Muse from querying its site in September and is now rolling out its own text-based shopping agent.
Alexa texting lets users search for items, add things to cart, and complete purchases using natural language. The AI can manage shopping lists, track prices, search across the web, compare products, and check order status. Users can also snap a photo of an item or outfit and find similar listings on Amazon. Over time, Alexa learns what customers prefer and suggests products accordingly.
Amazon is shutting down competition while launching its own play. By blocking Muse in September and rolling out Alexa texting months later, the company signals to Meta and other AI agents that access to its platform depends on Amazon's interests. The move reflects Amazon's refusal to let rival AI platforms profit from its shopping ecosystem.
The market for consumer-facing AI agents is growing, and platforms like Amazon cannot afford to let competitors mediate customer relationships. DoorDash tested third-party agents handling orders and saw only hundreds of transactions, so the delivery giant is building its own text agent instead. Amazon follows the same strategy: own the AI, own the customer interaction, own the data. Texting is the battleground because it is personal, immediate, and frictionless in a way app shopping is not.
Select U.S. customers are invited to test the feature now, with a broader rollout coming over the next few weeks. Amazon is offering a waitlist for others. The timing coincides with peak holiday shopping, designed to capture spending behavior during the season's busiest period.
