to select customers using its app.

The company is now fully satisfied with its performance and has made it available to all US customers in time for Prime Day next week. Despite this, Amazon states that it is "like having a shopping assistant with you whenever you're in our stores."

Named after the Welsh Corgi the two former employees had in their office in the 1990s, Rufus is designed to answer questions about specific needs, thereby reducing the amount of legwork required to select the right items from the Amazon store.

In other words, it can ask general questions while looking for ideas (e.g., "What do you need for a summer party?") or prompts that require more specific answers ("Do you want trail shoes or running shoes?").

General questions like these can be easily answered with a little research on Google, but they become more useful when considering the pros and cons of a particular product. If you ask a question on a product page, such as "Is this coffeemaker easy to clean?", Rufus will find the answer based on information on the page, from product listings to customer reviews.

While this is definitely a time saver, one has to be careful about reliability here. We've all seen listings with erroneous product descriptions, and it's no secret that Amazon, like other major online retailers, has a problem with fake astroturf reviews pushed by vendors to boost their products. Rufus is simply summarizing existing data for ease of consumption, and it is important to remember that if that data is flawed, so will Rufus' answers.

But Rufus is factually true only to specific questions about your account. You can ask questions about future orders ("When will I receive my dehumidifier?") or about past activity ("When was the last time you ordered batteries?").

If you are in the U.S., you can try Rufus now: make sure your Amazon app is updated to the latest version and tap the Rufus icon in the navigation bar. You can test Rufus' mettle by selecting an existing prompt or typing in a difficult question yourself.

While Rufus' appearance ahead of next week's Prime Day is certainly convenient, we recommend doing your own research before making a big purchase. Get independent reviews, check the pricing history, and make sure everything is as it seems.

Our reporter will be combing Amazon with a toothless comb throughout the next week to sort the wheat from the chaff.