Amazon is selling AI shopping assistants to third-party retailers through a new service called the Agentic Shopping Assistant, built on its AWS cloud platform. Kate Spade became one of the first brands to deploy the technology.
The service lets retailers embed AI shopping assistants directly into their websites and mobile apps. Each deployment customizes to a retailer's specific product catalog, enabling the assistant to answer questions, make recommendations, and guide customers through purchases using that brand's inventory data.
This moves Amazon deeper into B2B AI services. Rather than competing with retailers solely through its own storefront, Amazon now profits by licensing AI infrastructure to competitors. The Agentic Shopping Assistant joins other AWS AI tools Amazon has already marketed to businesses.
The technology reflects a broader shift in e-commerce strategy. Amazon Web Services now generates more revenue and higher margins than retail operations. By offering retailers their own AI assistants, Amazon captures recurring software revenue while positioning itself as the trusted infrastructure provider across the entire retail ecosystem.
Kate Spade's adoption signals retailer appetite for AI shopping tools. Luxury brands especially benefit from AI assistants that understand product nuances, styling advice, and customer preferences. The assistant can handle complex queries beyond simple search and filter operations.
For Amazon, this strategy reduces regulatory pressure. Rather than dominating retail through its marketplace, it can claim neutrality as a technology vendor serving all retailers equally. AWS becomes the connective tissue across retail, much like how Google became the default search infrastructure.
The service also generates valuable training data. Each interaction with the Agentic Shopping Assistant teaches the underlying AI model about customer shopping behavior, preferences, and language patterns. This data improves Amazon's overall AI capabilities across retail and other industries.
Retailers gain immediate access to advanced AI without building their own models or hiring specialized AI teams. The tradeoff remains the same as other cloud services. Retailers depend on Amazon's infrastructure