Times of India | Amazon to expand premium beauty store with 100 brands in 2026: All details

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Amazon India announced it will broaden its premium beauty offering in 2026, adding over 100 new international brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Laura Mercier, Urban Decay, Aveda, La Roche‑Posay, Eucerin and Paula’s Choice, along with a wider selection of Japanese, Australian, French and Middle‑Eastern fragrance products. The expansion, slated to roll out through 2026 and coincide with Prime Day, follows a 50 % year‑on‑year growth in the premium beauty segment, now driven largely by tier‑2 and tier‑3 cities—more than half of demand comes from places like Thrissur, Dehradun, Patiala, Guwahati and Kolhapur. Amazon’s Director of Beauty, Siddharth Bhagat, noted a shift toward discovery‑led shopping, with Korean and French pharmacy brands nearly doubling in sales, Middle‑Eastern fragrances tripling, and increased demand for direct‑to‑consumer hair‑care and men’s grooming products. The retailer is also leveraging AI tools such as the Rufus shopping assistant and Amazon Lens image‑search to help users compare ingredients, discover products and receive personalized recommendations, while aiming for same‑day or next‑day delivery for half of beauty orders in the country’s top 100 cities.

Read more: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/amazon-to-expand-premium-beauty-store-with-100-brands-in-2026-all-details/articleshow/131250118.cms

#AmazonIndia #DolceGabbana #UrbanDecay #PrimeDay #Rufus #LauraMercier

US Top News and Analysis | Amazon ditches Rufus chatbot, launches Alexa shopping agent in AI strategy pivot

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Amazon has discontinued its Rufus chatbot and is centering its AI‑driven shopping strategy on a new “Alexa for Shopping” assistant. The tool merges Rufus’s recommendation features with Alexa+, using customers’ purchase histories and product data to answer queries, compare items, and even schedule purchases, all without requiring a Prime membership. Activated via a clickable “A” icon on Amazon’s website or app and on Echo Show displays, it replaces the standalone Rufus bot, which will be retired. Amazon says the integration gives Alexa access to reliable information such as stock availability, delivery estimates and customer reviews—advantages it claims other AI shopping agents lack. By embedding Alexa for Shopping into search results, Amazon also plans to show relevant sponsored product ads, a move that could affect third‑party sellers who rely on traditional search placements. The shift reflects Amazon’s broader effort to stay ahead of competing AI shopping solutions from firms like OpenAI and Google while maintaining tighter control over its e‑commerce platform.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/13/amazon-ditches-rufus-ai-chatbot-in-favor-of-alexa-shopping-agent.html

#Amazon #Rufus #Alexa #OpenAI #Google #Perplexity #DanielRausch #AndyJassy #AmazonPrime #Alexaassistant #

Amazon's Rufus tells me about sodium fluoride.

Have you brushed your teeth today? (There are fluoride-free choices available.)

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