How to shop on Amazon with Alexa Voice Shopping

Your Amazon Echo offers a ton of cool features, from music to games to smart home control. One handy option for Prime members is the ability to buy Amazon products by talking to Alexa, so if you’re running low on bottled water or want the latest Spider-Man movie on Blu-ray, the assistant Amazon digital can quickly order.

Alexa voice ordering is supported on any Echo device to purchase physical products and certain digital items like music. Prime subscribers who live in a location where Prime Now, Whole Foods, or AmazonFresh is available can also order food, groceries, and other items by voice for pick up or delivery, although the orders aren’t available. Prime Now and Whole Foods will require the Prime Now app (iOS, Android) to check. Here’s how to get started.

Enable Voice Ordering

To get started:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile device.
2. Tap the hamburger icon () and select Settings > Alexa Account> Voice Purchase.
3. Turn on the Buy Voice control switch if it’s not already on.

Voice purchasing also requires 1-click ordering activation. To test this, click on the link to see the 1-click option. The app will take you to an Amazon page showing your 1-click payment settings. Here you can enable it if needed by clicking the button to Edit Payment Method. From there, enter the information for the credit card you want to use.

Set up voice code

Buying products by voice can be risky in the wrong hands, especially if you have kids (or shopaholic adults) at home who may be able to buy things on their own. To prevent this, secure your Account with a four-digit voice code. This way, only people with the password can use Alexa’s voice purchasing feature.

On the Buy Voices page, turn the voice code switch on. Enter the four-digit code in the Request Confirmation Code field. Alexa will ask for that code every time you try to order by voice.

If you’ve trained Amazon to recognize your voice or the voices of someone else in your household and want to bypass the code for you or another speaker, turn on the Speaker Recognition switch. However, I recommend turning that switch off for now. You can always turn it on later if you find it annoying to announce the code when you order a product by voice.

Shopping deals with Alexa

Now is the time to enlist the help of Alexa to help you with your shopping. First, say, “Alexa, what is my deal?” and Alexa lists the latest sales and savings on various products available through Amazon. After each transaction, Alexa asks if you want to buy the item.

You can also say, “Alexa, what’s my Whole Foods deal?” and Alexa let you know what food items and other products are on sale at Whole Foods.

You can even research the product. Say, “Alexa, does the Nintendo Switch come with a microphone?” or “What is the price of Xbox One?” Alexa then tries to answer your questions based on product descriptions, reviews, and other information on Amazon.

Select products with Alexa

Okay, now you are ready to buy something. If you know what you want, say, “Alexa, order [product name].” In many cases, Alexa offers several options to match your order. For example, if you put an available title like both a movie and a book, Alexa describes either and asks if you want to order.

If not, say “No.” Alexa should then describe the other items. If Amazon offers several types of items, you may need to go to your shopping cart to select a specific variety before you can place an order.

How to buy with Alexa

Instead of checking from Amazon’s website or app, you can ask Alexa to do it for you. Say, “Alexa, check [product name].”

The only downside here is that you can’t currently use your voice to check out multiple items from your cart in one shot. You must check each item one at a time by specifying its name. If you change your mind after placing an order, you can tell Alexa to cancel the order.

Once you’ve placed your order, you can check your Amazon Order History page to confirm that the order has gone through. Find out when your order arrives by saying, “Alexa, where’s my stuff?”

Reorder past purchases

If you’ve purchased an item in the past and want to buy it again, you can easily reorder items from your purchase history. Just tell Alexa to reorder the product, and she’ll take the item from your past orders.