Amazon is integrating its two-hour Prime Now delivery service into Alexa, the Seattle-based tech giant announced on Tuesday. If you have a cold and are out of tissues, you can now skip launching the Amazon app on your phone or PC and instead simply tell your order to Alexa. With Prime Now integration, your tissues will arrive within a few hours without requiring you to even lift a finger. According to Amazon, tens of thousands of daily essentials can be ordered through Prime Now, and as of today, customers in select cities can also order beer, wine, and spirits using its fast delivery service. Alexa is now also capable of placing multiple orders simultaneously, will recommend purchases to you and can even automatically choose the next available delivery window, Amazon revealed in its announcement.
To order a product using Prime Now’s two-hour delivery window, all you need to do is say: “Alexa, order [product name] from Prime Now.” Alexa will recommend a specific product or brand from the Prime Now catalog and add it to your order. For example, if you tell Alexa to order diapers from Prime Now, it can recommend a specific brand that is available for Prime Now delivery. The Alexa digital assistant is available on the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot speakers, Amazon Tap, Fire Tablet, and Fire TV. Huawei is also bringing Amazon’s digital assistant to the Huawei Mate 9 that will receive the service in the future.
Alexa with Prime Now is available in more than thirty Prime Now cities, Amazon said, and to utilize the service, you must be an Amazon Prime member with a default payment shipping address saved to your account. For ordering alcohol, you must be at least 21 years of age and present a proper I.D. when accepting the delivery. On a related note, complete alcohol delivery is currently restricted to Seattle, Washington. Columbus and Cincinnati residents can order beer and wine but not spirits, the company said. By integrating Prime Now’s two-hour delivery service into Alexa, Amazon is trying to make online shopping easier than ever. As the company continues looking to facilitate eCommerce, its latest offering will directly compete with eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery.