SAN FRANCISCO — The meaning behind a cryptic poem recited by Amazon’s voice-command digital assistant Alexa on Wednesday became clear Friday with the announcement that Amazon customers who order by voice will get exclusive deals during the online retailer’s Prime Day sale.
Alexa users will receive a $10 discount on their first Amazon order using Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap, July 8 through July 12.
Amazon created the shopping holiday for its Prime customers last year as a sort of Christmas in July event to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Prime Day customers ordered 34.4 million items worldwide, breaking its Black Friday records. Amazon has promised to make it even better this year.
Those who order by voice via Alexa will also have access to exclusive deals when they ask, “Alexa, what are your Prime Day deals?” Or they can also visit amazon.com/AlexaDeals.
To see and hear see what it’s like to get deals from Alexa, Reviewed.com will livestream a conversation with the assistant herself on Facebook Live at 12:30 pm ET.
The potential audience for such deals is growing as Alexa has proven quite popular. As of April, Amazon had sold more than 3 million of the original Alexa-enabled Echo speakers, according to Chicago-based Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Two smaller versions, the Dot and Tap, are also now available.
Amazon began teasing the option Wednesday, when Alexa started responding to questions about whether she knew of any Prime Day deals with this poem:
“Tell secrets I cannot
but since you ask,
this hint is what I’ve got.
On July 8, early birds get their meal,
so ask me then, and I will reveal some deals.”
