Amazon’s Rufus AI: Revolutionizing Shopping with Price History Transparency

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Amazon Introduces Price History Feature in Rufus AI Assistant for Select Users

The highly anticipated Amazon Prime Day attracts numerous bargain hunters eager to find significant discounts, with price reductions sometimes reaching over 40 percent. However, without insight into an item's historical pricing, determining the true value of these deals can be challenging. Traditionally, shoppers have relied on external price tracking tools to navigate this issue. Amazon has now announced that it will enable certain customers to obtain this pricing history information directly by interacting with its AI-based shopping assistant, Rufus.

Consider the recent promotion for the LifeStraw personal water filter. During the Prime Big Deal Days event, the filter's price dropped to $10, slashing its usual $20 tag by 50%, presenting an apparent bargain. Yet, the question arises: was this the lowest price ever offered? Previously, the company maintained silence on such matters. However, in the past few weeks, they've begun to experiment with more openness about pricing. To find out more, one simply needs to utilize Rufus.

Initially introduced to a select group of users in February and made available to all users across the United States in July, Rufus represents Amazon's commerce-centric alternative to ChatGPT. Users can find it by clicking the speech bubbles icon located at the bottom right corner of Amazon’s mobile application or at the top left corner within the website’s navigation menu.

Initial feedback criticized it for being inconsistent and somewhat beneficial. In a recent blog entry, Rajiv Mehta, who oversees search and interactive buying at Amazon, mentioned that customers have been bombarding Rufus with inquiries regarding specifics of products, advice on purchases, and comparisons between items. Additionally, Rufus is capable of responding to questions regarding orders or existential queries.

Mehta omitted details about Rufus' ability to track price changes. When you go to a product's page and activate Rufus by requesting "price history," it can analyze and report on pricing trends. For example, regarding the Lifestraw filter's current discount, Rufus pointed out, "This sale offers the cheapest price on Amazon in the last 30 days."

In the Amazon application, Rufus displayed a graph indicating the cost of the filter over the previous month. It demonstrated that the price remained under $20 throughout that period, even dropping to around $14 on some occasions. Therefore, while the deal was indeed economical, it possibly wasn't as significant a saving as the Prime Big Deals Days had suggested.

Amazon representative Janelle Rasey mentioned that revealing the history of product prices is currently a trial accessible to a select group of users in the United States. "Our goal is to enhance and simplify the daily lives of our customers by assisting them in locating and uncovering whatever products they may be interested in, enabling them to make knowledgeable choices when shopping with us," she explains. "We consistently experiment with new functionalities to ensure our customers find exceptional deals throughout our extensive selection."

LifeStraw did not reply to a solicitation for remarks.

Should Amazon's experiment with offering access to price history via Rufus prove successful and continue, it may become a compelling incentive for consumers to experiment with the chatbot. Last week, Trishul Chilimbi, a Vice President at Amazon in charge of research, revealed that his groups have equipped Rufus with knowledge on every product, review, and question-and-answer entry found on the company's site, alongside certain publicly available data from other online sources. Essentially, Rufus simplifies the process of obtaining information that users could gather on their own.

However, information that's not immediately obvious, such as fluctuations in pricing, can be harder to obtain. When WIRED attempted to use well-known price monitoring services CamelCamelCamel and Glass It to track the LifeStraw filter, they found no available data. Conversely, Keepa did provide information, tracing back to 2017 and revealing a historic low price of $8 in 2022.

Leaders from Keepa and Glass It informed WIRED that the emergence of Rufus as a competitor doesn't worry them. They argue that their data is more detailed and supports a range of features, such as notifications for price changes. "Amazon's effort to offer direct access to price history information benefits all of us as shoppers aiming to make well-informed purchases," mentioned Amor Avhad, the creator of Glass It.

Amazon has faced criticism for not being open about certain aspects of its operations. Currently, it is the subject of two legal actions by the US Federal Trade Commission, which alleges that Amazon engaged in misleading and anti-competitive behaviors, obscuring the truth about subscription renewals and the workings of its sales algorithms from both buyers and sellers. However, in terms of how it handles the pricing of products, Amazon has shown a degree of transparency with its customers.

Amazon notifies customers who have left a product in their shopping cart for an extended period about any price adjustments, regardless of how minor, since the product was initially placed in the cart. Should Amazon determine that its pricing for a product does not match or beat competitors' pricing, it might remove the Buy button, necessitating extra steps for users to finalize their purchase.

The impact that availability of historical pricing information might have on retailers stuck in an intermediary position remains uncertain. Tristan Månsson-Perrone from Radius Outfitters, a merchant on Amazon with a tool roll listed as one of this week's highlighted deals, mentions that the company rarely changes its prices. Therefore, he believes that customers might not learn much by consulting Rufus, according to him.

In essence, Amazon has highlighted its desire for Rufus—inspired by a corgi that adorned its initial office—to serve as a reliable ally. When requested to condense reviews, it underlines the advantages and disadvantages. It recommends products outside of Amazon's range without appearing excessively mercantile.

However, WIRED encountered difficulties in getting Rufus to assist with queries related to ethical shopping, especially in determining which brands were backing specific factions in conflicts or political races. Additionally, there's ongoing speculation about whether innovations like Rufus could drain income from the professional review sector, including WIRED itself. These issues and worries were secondary until Rufus seemed like an imitation lacking in popularity. But, with its access to unique pricing information, it might soon emerge as a top ally for consumers.

Update: At 4:00 pm EDT on October 10, 2024, this article was revised to amend the launch date of Rufus for all users in the United States. The accurate month of launch is July, contrary to the previously mentioned September.

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