The CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores, Doug Herrington, said on Wednesday (the 12th) that Alexa for Shopping will combine photos, conversations and purchase history to make personalized recommendations, and predicted a future in which the home restocks itself.
The statement is part of Amazon's strategy to shift competition in the supermarket sector to a new retail layer based on AI-generated decisions about what a family should buy, moving it away from the arena where Walmart is strongest: stores, inventory and local delivery.
Rivalry with Walmart
For Walmart, the change represents a larger strategic problem, as Amazon tries to move the competition to the stage before purchase: automatically determining which items are needed in a home.
