Voice Shopping on Alexa
Voice shopping on Echo devices isn’t particularly hassle-free. Things can get complicated quickly. If you use a screenless Echo device, voice shopping can even get very annoying. There are those awkward moments where you need to rephrase your commands several times to get what you want. And then there’s the obvious problem of not seeing what you’re paying for actually looks like.
Even Echo devices with screens have their fair share of voice shopping problems. However, with a bit of practice, you can easily get the hang of things, and there are Alexa-only discounts to reward your efforts. But how do you invoke Alexa-only discounts?
Alexa, What Are My Deals?
Voice shopping might be a bit tricky, but getting Alexa-only discounts is very simple. Whenever you want to access those juicy deals that are only available on Alexa, the command to use is: “Alexa, what are my deals?”
Sometimes, when you ask Alexa for your deals, she may reply with: “If you’d like to order something, go to settings in the Alexa app and enable voice purchasing.” This typically means voice shopping has not been turned on for that Alexa device. You’ll need to turn on voice shopping to enjoy Alexa-only deals.
How to Turn On Voice Purchasing With the Alexa App
To turn on voice purchasing on the Alexa app for iOS or Android:
Open Settings from your Alexa app Tap Account Settings Tap Voice Purchasing Toggle on Purchase by voice
Of course, suppose you’ve previously enabled all the necessary voice purchasing settings on your Echo devices. In that case, all you’ll need to take advantage of Alexa-only discounts is “Alexa, what are my deals?”
Alexa, Enable Follow-Up Mode
When voice shopping on Alexa, the voice assistant will serve up individual deals and expect you to respond one at a time. Unless you’re comfortable with using Alexa’s wake word every time you want to respond, you should ideally turn on Alexa’s Follow-Up mode.
To enable Alexa’s Follow-Up mode, simply say: “Alexa, enable follow-up mode.” If you want to enable follow-up mode using the Alexa app, you’ll need to:
Open the Alexa mobile app and tap on Devices Tap on Echo and Alexa on the top menu bar Scroll to the Echo device you want to enable follow-up mode on and tap on it Scroll down and locate Follow-Up mode and toggle on the option
If you have multiple Echo devices and wish to enable Follow-Up mode on all of them, you’ll need to back out to the list of devices, select each one, and repeat steps 2 to 4.
After each item, Alexa will ask whether you want her to add it to your shopping cart. Once you’ve added an item to your cart using this route, you’ll be able to check out those items at the Alexa-only discounted prices.
As long as you’ve added your chosen items to your cart, it doesn’t matter how you choose to check out, whether through an Alexa voice command, your mobile device, or a personal computer, your discounted prices will remain. However, in order to get a better feel of what you’ve added to your cart, it’s a good idea to use a device with a screen to check out.
Exploring Your Alexa Deals With Voice Commands
If you’re unfamiliar with voice shopping commands, below are some you should try out while exploring your Alexa deals.
Alexa, what are my Whole Foods deals? — this command serves up available Whole Food deals. Alexa, what’s in my shopping cart? — this serves up the items you have in your shopping cart. Alexa, check the price of [product] — this command will read out the price of the specified product. Alexa, what’s the most popular [product category]? — this command will inform you of the most popular product in the specified product category. Alexa, add [product] to my cart — this command will add the specified product to your shopping cart. Alexa, order the products in my cart — this will order all the products you’ve added to your shopping cart. Alexa, cancel my order — this will cancel your pending order. Alexa, add [product] to my [cart name] — this will add the specified product to the specified cart.
When Alexa was introduced, the idea was to build the consumer’s trust using a humanized voice AI. It was about helping consumers utilize the power of simple, spoken commands to execute mundane tasks.
Today, Alexa is living that dream and much more. If you’re not already an Alexa user, you might want to consider trying out the intuitive voice assistant to take advantage of all that it has to offer.
