Amazon’s Alexa shopping text debuts in small pilot

Amazon has launched a small pilot of shopping by text via its Alexa devices.

It features an AI helper that compares items and prices, can build a shopping cart and list and even provide a checkout lane, according to a Seeking Alpha report.

The pilot has been launched to a select group of U.S. Alexa users by invitation only with a bigger rollout expected in the next several week.s

Shoppers prompt the feature by sending a text and either uploading a photo or a shopping list.

More than 400 million Amazon customers have used Alexa for Shopping over the past 12 months, according to Seeking Alpha.