Dive Brief:

• Amazon is trying to make voice commerce more streamlined. The company on Thursday announced a new feature that gives Alexa users advanced notification on deals.
• Alexa can notify users up to 24 hours in advance of a deal becoming available for eligible items on their wish list, in their shopping cart, or saved for later. If given permission, the device can also order a customer's desired item using the payment method and delivery address saved on their account, the company said. 
• Using commands like "Alexa, where's my stuff" or "Alexa, buy it for me," shoppers can be reminded when deals go live, have Alexa order items or track an order's status, per the announcement. Amazon Prime shoppers in the U.S. with newer generation Echo speakers can use the tools.

Dive Insight:

Alexa is allowing Amazon Prime members to identify deals while facilitating a more frictionless shopping experience. 

"This new feature — along with popular shopping features like Reorder Notifications — is another example of the many ways Alexa is becoming more proactive on your behalf," the company wrote in its announcement.  

So far, it remains to be seen when voice commerce will enter the mainstream. As experts have explained to Retail Dive, the technology needs more data to improve its user experience while also balancing consumers' privacy concerns and being able to recognize their voices.

For the past few years, Amazon has been adding features to its Alexa devices and integrating the technology into new spaces.

Last October, the company released tools to assist senior communities and healthcare facilities. Using Alexa-enabled devices, employees at senior communities can, for example, check in with patients or tell residents about the cafeteria menus. Alexa-enabled devices can also connect patients with staffers, and allow patients to control the devices in their hospital rooms, play music or get news updates.

Besides deploying Alexa technologies beyond retail, Amazon has also tested interactive audio ads via the device. Alexa users can use commands such as "remind me," "send me more information" or "add to cart" after hearing Amazon Music ads.