Fresh off its biggest shopping day in history, Cyber Monday 2018, Amazon today is making it easy for Alexa owners to participate in Giving Tuesday, the international day of charitable giving that follows the holiday shopping spree kicked off by Thanksgiving Day sales. Starting today, Alexa owners can donate a toy to a child in need just by saying, “Alexa, donate to Toys for Tots.”
After speaking the voice command, Alexa will present you with a reasonably priced item appropriate for kids across a range of ages.
The charitable organization curated a list of toys that includes things like Mickey and Minnie plush toys, Nerf footballs, Monopoly games and more, says Amazon .
When the customer confirms the order, Amazon will ship the toy directly to Toys for Tots. You can request tracking and delivery updates for the item, just like any other order by asking Alexa, “where’s my stuff?” or by signing up for Alexa Shopping Notifications.
Amazon is also matching donations of toys to Toys for Tots, up to $100,000 in matching toy donations through December 31, 2018, it notes.
It’s really one of the simplest ways to give back, and not one that’s been tried before.
Amazon says this is the first time it’s used the Alexa platform for donating items – and, if it succeeds, the company may roll out similar initiatives in the future.
“Alexa provides the easiest way to give back this holiday season enabling customers to donate an item to Toys for Tots in less than 60 seconds,” said Chuck Moore, VP of Alexa Shopping, in a statement. “This time of year is made brighter by the generosity of others. As Alexa Shopping evolves, we want to enable customers to be able to fulfill all kinds of shopping needs, whether that be personal or the needs of the wider community,” he added.
In addition to its work with Toys for Tots, Amazon is also supporting monetary donations through Alexa to the charity of their choice. To do so, Alexa owners just say “Alexa, I want to make a donation” to get started.
Meanwhile, on Amazon.com, the retailer has also this year rolled out a new feature called Charity Lists that provides non-profits a way to create lists of items they need. This is a feature on AmazonSmile, the shopping destination that allows customers to support a charity whenever they shop Amazon.