Amazon announces UK arrival for Echo Dot and Alexa voice shopping features

Amazon has announced today (20 October) that the Echo Dot is shipping to UK customers for the first time – and Prime members now have more Alexa features, including voice shopping. Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that is powered by Alexa and uses the same far-field voice recognition as Amazon Echo. Essentially, it is a smaller, portable Echo and it can be used to voice-control a range of home devices (such as stereo systems and lights) – and also for voice shopping through Alexa.

Explaining the new Alexa voice-shopping features, Amazon said: “Prime members using Echo or Echo Dot can now just say ‘order paper towels’,” ‘order dog food’ or ‘buy some LEGO’ and Alexa will find a product that ships with Prime and apply available discounts. Just say ‘Yes’ to buy it.

“You can complete the entire shopping transaction using just your voice in a conversation with Alexa – there’s no need to open an app, look at a screen, or tap a button. Customers can also check the status of existing orders simply by saying ‘Alexa, where’s my stuff?’”