Amazon adds delivery tracking, last-minute adds, gift ideas to Alexa+

Amazon is enhancing its voice assistant Alexa+ with new shopping-focused features available in the U.S. and Canada. These updates include a dedicated shopping hub called “Shopping Essentials” on Echo devices with screens (Echo Show 15 and 21), where users can track deliveries in real time, view recent orders, get reminders for household essentials, and manage shopping lists and saved items. Users can access this hub by voice commands like “Alexa, where’s my stuff?” or “Open Shopping Essentials,” with a shopping widget coming soon to the Echo home screen. Additionally, Alexa+ now allows users to add items to upcoming deliveries up until the package leaves the warehouse, extending a feature previously available only on Amazon’s website and app. The assistant can also provide personalized gift recommendations based on the recipient or occasion, displaying categorized product suggestions on screen. These enhancements build on Alexa+’s existing shopping capabilities, such as automated deal tracking and automatic purchases, aiming to make Alexa a more effective shopping assistant for tens of millions