Online shoppers are right to be skeptical about discounts offered during sales like Black Friday (as this article from 2024 shows). But now Amazon’s Rufus AI shopping assistant may help buyers spot deceptive pricing.
Amazon said since launching last year, Rufus has become smarter and more helpful. Among its capabilities are personalizing recommendations; tracking prices; auto-buying deals; and providing customer service expertise. Over 250 million customers used Rufus this year, with monthly average users up 149% and interactions up 210%.
Amazon shared the following screenshot showing an example of a query to Rufus “Has this item been on sale in the past 30 days” along with the answer showing information such as its current price; sale price; and the dates it was on sale; and context (“The moisturizer was discounted during what appears to be Black Friday week, offering significant savings on this popular CeraVe alternative.”). Rufus’s response also displays a graphic showing the price for the past 30 days – and a convenient “Add to Cart” button.
SOURCE: Amazon
The information is enough for shoppers to feel secure about whether the current price is higher, lower, or the same so they can be confident they aren’t being duped into a fake sale price.
That’s one example of the kind of help Rufus can provide – Amazon provided the following examples of other questions shoppers can ask Rufus:
- Find deals on a holiday gift for my mom who enjoys biking and cooking.
- Compare this with the TV in my cart.
- Can you help me plan my holiday dinner for 8 people on a budget of $400?
- Come back and purchase this T-shirt when it’s under $30.
- Can you order everything I browsed yesterday?
Amazon said customers who use Rufus while shopping are over 60% more likely to make a purchase. More information about Rufus is on this Amazon post from last month.