Amazon Prime Day has evolved into a major event for bargain hunters seeking impressive discounts. The reductions can be significant, sometimes exceeding 40% off an item’s price, but without knowledge of a product’s price history, it can be challenging to determine whether a deal is truly worthwhile. Consumers have traditionally relied on third-party price trackers to bridge this knowledge gap, but now Amazon claims that it will enable certain users to obtain this information through a simple conversation with its AI shopping assistant, Rufus.
Consider this week’s promotion on LifeStraw’s personal water filter. As part of the Prime Big Deal Days event, the filter was offered at $10, half the original price of $20, which appeared to be a fantastic deal. But was it genuinely a bargain, or had the price been lower previously? Until recently, the company was not forthcoming about this information. However, in the last few weeks, they have quietly begun testing a more transparent approach, and accessing this data only requires interacting with Rufus.
Introduced to some users in February and made available to everyone in the US in July, Rufus serves as Amazon’s shopping-oriented response to ChatGPT. It can be accessed via the speech bubble icon located in the bottom right corner of Amazon’s app or the top left of its website navigation menu.
Some early feedback criticized it, while others described it as inconsistent and only somewhat beneficial. Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president for search and conversational shopping, mentioned in a blog post last month that users have been querying Rufus about product specifications, suggestions for purchases, and comparisons between items. Rufus is also capable of addressing inquiries about orders or even deeper existential questions.
What Mehta overlooked was Rufus’ ability to track price history. By visiting a product page and asking Rufus for the “price history,” you can uncover valuable information. For instance, when checking the Lifestraw filter, Rufus indicated during this week’s sale, “This is the lowest price on Amazon in the past 30 days.”
Within the Amazon app, Rufus also displayed a line chart that illustrated the filter’s price fluctuations over the past month. It showed that the price remained below $20 during this time, dipping as low as around $14 for several days. While the current offer price could be considered a deal, it may not be as significant a markdown as the Prime Big Deals Days suggested.
According to Amazon spokesperson Janelle Rasey, the price history feature is still in experimental stages and is offered to a select group of users in the US. “We strive to enhance our customers’ experience daily by aiding them in finding and discovering anything they might desire and by enabling informed purchasing decisions within our store,” she stated. “We frequently test new functionalities to provide customers with great value across our extensive range.”
LifeStraw has not provided a response regarding this matter.
If Amazon’s initiative to share price history through Rufus proves to be successful and expands, it may encourage more users to engage with the chatbot. Trishul Chilimbi, an Amazon vice president in charge of research, noted last week that his teams have trained Rufus using all the products, reviews, and Q&A submissions from the company’s website, along with some publicly available data from other parts of the web. This means that Rufus offers a more streamlined way for users to access information they could otherwise gather independently.
However, information that is more nuanced or hidden, such as price fluctuations, is harder to obtain. For instance, when WIRED evaluated popular price-tracking tools CamelCamelCamel and Glass It, they found no data for the LifeStraw filter. Conversely, another service, Keepa, was able to provide historical data dating back to 2017, recording a lowest price of $8 in 2022.
Officials at Keepa and Glass It conveyed to WIRED that they do not fear competition from Rufus. They assert that their data is more extensive and supports various tools, such as price alerts. “Amazon’s initiative to offer price history data directly to users benefits everyone as it helps consumers make informed purchasing choices,” stated Amor Avhad, founder of Glass It.
Amazon has faced criticism for its lack of transparency in certain aspects of its business practices. In two ongoing lawsuits, the US Federal Trade Commission has accused Amazon of engaging in deceptive and anticompetitive actions that obscure information about subscription renewals and sales algorithms from both shoppers and sellers. Yet, when it comes to product pricing, Amazon has, in some respects, been more transparent with consumers.
Shoppers who leave items in their carts for an extended period are notified by Amazon when there’s a change in the item’s price, even if it’s just a cent since the initial addition. In instances where Amazon deems its pricing non-competitive when compared to other retailers, it might obscure the Buy button, requiring customers to navigate through extra screens to finalize their purchase.
The potential implications of price history access for merchants who find themselves in a balancing act is yet to be established. Tristan Månsson-Perrone, a seller on Amazon and owner of a tool roll featured in this week’s deals, mentions that he doesn’t frequently alter pricing. This means customers might not derive much insight from utilizing Rufus, according to his assessment.
In general, Amazon has expressed its intention for Rufus—named after a corgi that was part of the company’s inaugural office—to serve as a reliable assistant. Users can ask Rufus to summarize reviews, and it effectively outlines both the advantages and disadvantages. It also proposes non-Amazon products and maintains a tone that is not excessively commercialized.
However, WIRED found that Rufus was unable to assist with inquiries related to ethical shopping, such as which brands support specific causes in conflicts or elections. Additionally, there are lingering questions about whether tools like Rufus might drain the revenue from the professional reviews sector, including WIRED. Those drawbacks and concerns were secondary when Rufus seemed like a less popular imitator. With its access to exclusive pricing information, it has the potential to evolve into an invaluable resource for shoppers.
Correction: 4:00 pm EDT 10/10/2024 This story was updated to correct the date Rufus launched to all US users. It was in July, not September.