Had you heard of Rufus before reading this article? If your answer was “no,” then you are among the majority (and we had already warned you). According to a study conducted by Remazing in collaboration with Appinio—titled the “Amazon Shopper Report 2025”—70% of Spaniards are unaware of the existence of Rufus, Amazon’s virtual shopping assistant powered by artificial intelligence.
Globally, this lack of awareness is even greater: 72% of respondents have never heard of him, and only 15% actually interact with the tool, which demonstrates that it has not yet become an organic part of the customer journey within the marketplace.
The data is the result of 1,000 surveys conducted among individuals aged 16 to 65 in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In early 2024, Amazon introduced Rufus as an AI-driven shopping assistant that has complete knowledge of the platform’s entire product catalog, customer reviews, community questions and answers from the marketplace, as well as all the general information on the site.
With all these foundational data points, Rufus is able to answer questions about products, compare items, make recommendations based on the conversational context, or provide information about current or past orders.
Does it work well? Let us say it is not 100% reliable, but it is certainly useful for straightforward and specific tasks that can save you a significant amount of time. So, if you have never used it before, I recommend giving it a try. To use Rufus, you simply need to ask a question or click on one of the frequently asked questions that will appear beneath the product images:
Worldwide, only between 20% and 33% of respondents are familiar with Amazon’s AI assistant. In the U.S, the figure stands at 33%, placing the country before other countries such as the United Kingdom (26%) and Italy (28%). France is the country with the lowest level of awareness regarding Rufus, with only 20% of shoppers cognizant of its existence.
While 28% of those surveyed claim to have heard of Rufus, only 13% use it on a regular basis. This reflects a gap between awareness of the tool and its effective integration into the purchasing process. In fact, 58% of respondents indicate that they never or rarely use it.
Rufus usage frequency
Rufus is valued primarily during the initial stages of the purchasing process. Forty percent of users utilize it at the beginning of their search, underscoring its usefulness for product discovery, and 46% employ it to evaluate specific products.
Additionally, 39% use it to narrow down their options during the mid-funnel phase, while 26% rely on it for final confirmation before completing their purchase.
Only 6% use Rufus after completing their transaction, clearly indicating its main strength as a decision-support tool rather than as a decisive factor in the final purchase.
The low usage rate of Rufus may be attributed to several factors, although it is likely that the primary issue is that users have not yet perceived a significant improvement in the purchasing process as a result of its use.
Of the 75% who had heard of the assistant and completed a purchase, only 17% attribute the transaction directly to Rufus’s influence, even though 37% state that the assistant provided valuable information. This indicates that Rufus serves more as a supporting role in the decision-making process rather than as the primary driver.
Twenty-five percent of users have not purchased anything suggested by Rufus yet, and 21% completed a purchase but felt that Rufus had no impact, underscoring the opportunity for growth in converting engagement into action.
In this context, Francesco Magnanimi, Global Sales Lead at Amazon, explains that “We all expected Rufus to have a stronger impact on consumers’ purchasing habits, especially in the United States, where it was launched much earlier than in Europe. While its start has been slow, innovation cannot be halted, so we should expect further developments in the coming years.”
Question: How would you rate the usefulness of Rufus for improving your purchasing decisions on Amazon?
Sixty-two percent of users who have tried Rufus indicate they trust it, with a distrust rate that does not exceed 12% in any of the countries included in the analysis. In Europe, trust levels are even higher: in Germany, 70% trust Rufus, while in Spain, the figure is 68%. By contrast, in the United States, only 54% express trust.
Nevertheless, there is still a considerable proportion of users—particularly in markets such as the United States (36%) and Italy (34%)—who remain neutral about the tool’s effectiveness. This reflects an opportunity for Amazon to reinforce its value and performance in order to increase adoption.
Despite the fact that Rufus has not been a disruptive factor, the majority of consumers report a willingness to use artificial intelligence in their online purchasing decisions. Sixty-nine percent of respondents approve of AI-generated product descriptions; 64% view AI-generated videos positively; and 63% value images of products generated by this technology. Even AI-generated images in advertisements received an approval rating of 60%.
Question: What do you think about brands using Artificial Intelligence in their advertisements or marketing communications on online marketplaces in the following areas?
Photo: Amazon
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