Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Attention Prime Now shoppers: Starting now you can place your order with Alexa

Amazon Dot
Just used the last disposable diaper or cracked the last six-pack of beer? (Well, hopefully not at the same time.) In either case, though, you’ll be pleased to know that on March 21, Amazon added a Prime Now skill so you can get free two-hour delivery of select “daily essential” items with Alexa voice shopping. And in three cities, that includes alcohol.

Ordering via Alexa is now available in the 30-plus Prime Now cities. According to Amazon, tens of thousands of products are available through Prime Now shopping. Alcohol delivery, which also starts on this first day of spring, is limited to Seattle where you can order any type of booze, and Columbus and Cincinnati in Ohio where you’re restricted to ordering beer and wine.

Related Videos

Alexa Prime Now shopping works with Amazon Echo devices including Tap, Dot, Fire TV, and Tablet. In order to shop with Alexa’s Prime Now skill, you have to be an Amazon Prime subscriber with a default payment method and shipping address. The $99�Prime membership comes with a boatload of other benefits including free two-day shipping on millions of items, free access to Prime videos, music, and more.

When you order with Alexa’s Prime Now shopping skill the syntax is “Alexa, order from Prime Now.” Alexa will recommend a product from those available and if you confirm, will add it to your order. You can include as many items as you wish. When you’re done adding items to your order Alexa sets the 2-hour delivery time.

“Bringing Prime Now to Alexa voice shopping combines two of the most innovative shopping technologies available for an experience that our customers are going to wonder how they ever lived without,” said Assaf Ronen, Amazon’s vice president of voice shopping. “We’re excited to offer the full Prime Now catalog with Alexa, including tens of thousands of items, which allows you to refill everyday essentials you’ve just run out of like diapers or dish soap, or cater to unexpected guests with Merlot and ice cream, all without ever leaving your house or even getting up from the couch.”

Previously you could shop on Amazon with Alexa and use the Alexa Deals skill for daily specials. Prime Now orders with the Alexa voice assistant adds to the service’s menu of shopping aids.

Enable Alexa Prime Now skill

Editors' Recommendations

Alexa can now tell you if you left the water on or the fridge door open
Echo Show 5 in the kitchen

Amazon's Alexa has become a ubiquitous part of the smart home, capable of handling everything from our day-to-day routines to keeping up with our shopping lists. Now, the smart assistant has a new feature: The ability to tell you if your latest load of laundry is finished or if there is running water somewhere in the home.

These new features are called Sound Detectors. Alexa already had several of these, like the ability to listen for a baby crying or the sound of barking dogs. Through Alexa Guard, the assistant can also listen for the sound of breaking glass.

Read more
This smart mug literally glows to let you know how hot it is
glowstone smart mug 2 glows when its hot lifestyle

Do you feel like your coffee gets cold too quickly, or that your coffee just tastes weird in certain mugs? You might be right -- some materials cool more quickly or retain the flavor of previous drinks, even after they're washed. The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 is made out of fine bone china, which means it doesn't absorb the odor or aroma of other beverages. Your coffee or tea will taste exactly as it's supposed to, at exactly the temperature it's supposed to be. And best of all, it glows to let you know it's warm.

The mug keeps your drink at exactly 145 degrees Fahrenheit for up to an hour. When the mug reaches the ideal temperature, it starts to glow. The Glowstone Smart Mug 2 charges through a Qi charging pad, but all of the electronic components and heating elements are inside the mug. It's dishwasher safe, so you won't have to worry about only hand-washing it.

Read more
How to change Alexa’s voice
Amazon Echo 4th Gen on a table.

An essential part of any smart home is a reliable hub for all of your devices to connect with, providing the infrastructure for one class of hardware to handshake with another. One of the more notable smart control systems is Amazon Alexa.

Built into a number of Amazon's smart speakers and displays, along with a host of third-party devices, the Alexa voice assistant responds to voice and Alexa app commands to execute your every smart home need. Want to remotely dim the smart lights? Alexa can do it. Want to blast your favorite music? You got it. Order something on Amazon? Alexa will tell you when the package is at your front door by way of flashing lights on the device, along with a notification from your Alexa app. Looking for a quick dinner recipe? Ask away. Want to make phone calls without your phone? Your Alexa speaker can do that, too.

Read more