Amazon is adding a text-message channel to Alexa for Shopping, letting customers buy items by texting the AI shopping assistant rather than speaking to a device or opening the app.

The feature works conversationally: users describe the products they're looking for in a text, and Alexa handles the rest of the purchase flow. It extends Amazon's shopping assistant beyond voice — its original home — into the messaging format where many users already spend most of their phone time.

Strategically, the move fits Amazon's broader effort to wire generative AI through its retail experience, turning product search from keyword-and-scroll into a back-and-forth conversation. Text also sidesteps voice shopping's longest-standing weaknesses: it's easier to review what you asked for, and easier to use in public. Whether customers trust an AI assistant enough to complete purchases over SMS is the open question — but Amazon is betting that lowering the friction to a single text will convert browsing into buying.