Amazon Rufus AI-Powered shopping assistant launched in India


Amazon has announced the beta launch of Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping assistant, in India.

Rufus, introduced earlier this year, aims to enhance the shopping experience on Amazon by providing expert advice and recommendations through its extensive knowledge of Amazon’s product catalog and additional online sources.

Features and Capabilities of Rufus

Expert Assistance: Rufus is trained on Amazon’s product catalog and supplementary web data to answer questions about products, comparisons, and recommendations within the Amazon shopping platform.

Broad Research: Users can begin their shopping journey with general queries like “what to consider when buying a washing machine” or “how to choose the right moisturizer,” receiving relevant guidance for their search.

Occasion-Based Shopping: Rufus helps users find products for specific events or purposes, such as “gifting ideas for a birthday” or “essential items for a hike.” It provides suggestions for product categories and relevant questions for deeper exploration.

Comparisons: Users can compare products by asking questions such as “4K OLED TV vs. 4K LED TV” to make well-informed purchasing decisions.

Personalized Recommendations: Rufus offers tailored suggestions based on specific needs, such as “best gifts for Valentine’s Day” or “top dinosaur toys for a 5-year-old.”

Product Updates: Users can stay informed about the latest trends and products by asking questions like “top gaming laptops.”

Detailed Product Inquiries: On product detail pages, Rufus answers specific questions like “is this jacket machine washable?” using information from product listings, reviews, and Q&As.

How to Access Rufus

Rufus is currently available in beta to select customers on the Amazon.in mobile app.

  • To use Rufus, users need to update their app and tap the Rufus icon in the bottom right-hand corner.
  • The chat dialogue box allows users to expand, ask questions, and get responses, with the option to return to traditional search results by swiping down.

Amazon also stated that it plans to continually improve Rufus by refining its AI models based on user feedback and ratings.

Availability

The Rufus beta is rolling out gradually to Amazon.in mobile app and will expand over the coming weeks.

Speaking about the launch, Amazon stated,

We are excited about the potential of generative AI and will continue to test new features to enhance the ease of finding, discovering, researching, and purchasing products on Amazon.in. We look forward to progressively rolling out the beta version of Rufus to more customers in the coming weeks.