Amazon wants Alexa for Shopping, not Muse, to be how people shop its store

Few people shop through outside AI agents yet, because the experience is not good enough, Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy told analysts on Thursday. He expects Amazon’s own assistant, Alexa for Shopping, to be the main agent people use to buy from the store.

Jassy spoke on Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call. About a month ago, the company blocked Meta’s Muse agent from its site. He did not name Muse, Fortune reported.

“Few customers are doing much shopping this way yet, as the experience is still not great, nor more convenient than coming to a retailer directly to research or one-click order there,” Jassy said.

Alexa for Shopping’s numbers

More than 400 million customers used Alexa for Shopping in the past 12 months, Amazon said in its results. Customer interactions grew 570% year on year. US customers who use it spend 50% more per order than those who do not, Jassy said.

“Though we anticipate working with horizontal agents, we believe Alexa for Shopping is going to be the primary shopping agent customers use to shop Amazon,” he said.

Horizontal agents are general assistants that work across many shops, such as Muse. Jassy argued that Amazon’s assistant already knows a customer’s purchase history, shipping address and payment details.

Amazon has added more than 100 capabilities to the assistant. US customers can now ask it to create and edit shopping lists and gift registries, Amazon said in a blog post on the day of the results. It can also update delivery instructions, answer questions about charges and refunds, and pause or change recurring deliveries.

Ads, and the case for Muse

Advertising revenue grew 11% in the quarter, below analysts’ forecasts. Jassy said outside agents were not the cause, and he expects ad growth to return to the high teens in the holiday quarter.

Some analysts see Muse as a test for Amazon. Bank of America’s Justin Post made the point in a research note this week, Axios reported.

“Muse traction will likely drive questions on Amazon’s agentic strategy,” Post wrote.

Meta has signed up Shopify, Walmart and Best Buy as Muse partners. More than 10 million people in the US and Canada have set up the agent, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said last week. Shopping is its most common use, he said. Muse shoppers poured in so fast that Meta had to ask Stripe to raise its limits. Walmart has also said it will let AI agents shop for its customers.