This low-budget, human-enhanced Echo competitor is made by … Sears?

When I first heard about the Kenmore Alfie, an inexpensive “voice-controlled intelligent shopper” made by Sears, I almost laughed.

Sears — the aged, struggling-to-remain-relevant department store — is trying to compete with the likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home?

But it actually seems like Sears has cooked up something much more interesting than you would think, especially considering the price (it lists at $50 and currently sells for about $30).

Alfie is a low-budget device (1/6th the cost of an Echo) that uses both automation (natural language processing) and human assistants (a la Magic) to do shopping research and purchase items on your behalf.

You press a button on the Alfie — which looks a little bit like a souped up Dash button — and use ordinary speech to tell it what type of product you’re looking for.

The rest of the interaction with Alfie takes place on an associated phone app, which makes me wonder whether the device itself is just window dressing.

Alfie shops around for you at a bunch of retailers (who wants to guess whether Sears’ own stores get priority?) and selects products that fit the bill, then returns results that are well-priced. You confirm whether you want to purchase what Alfie has suggested, and Alfie handles the arrangements for delivery or store pick-up.

Compared with what the Echo can do, Alfie is much more limited. Its only function is shopping research.

But what I find enormously interesting is the human element. I would have thought that, given the price of the device, it would deliver only automated results (like the Echo). However, the flow of interaction seems much more like the human-powered Magic.

Unlike Magic, there are no ongoing fees associated with using the service, apart from the cost of the device. No markup on products, and no extra fees for the personal shopping help.

Obviously, Alfie’s range of services are more limited than those of Magic … but Magic charges a variable fee for every order, and Magic+ charges $100/hr.

It seems as if, at least for uncomplicated personal shopping help, it’s almost a no-brainer for regular Magic users to plunk down $30 for an Alfie and eliminate those ongoing fees.

The question is: Has Sears done it right?

There will be three big challenges to its adoption.

The first is whether the device and app work as well and as easily as a Dash button or Magic text conversation. Are results relevant and well priced, or is Alfie just shilling for Sears and Kmart?

The second is whether Sears has committed the marketing power to get Alfie the attention it deserves.

And the third is whether consumers are going to trust the Kenmore brand (more known for fridges and dishwashers than high-tech wifi-enabled gadgets) and the Sears brand (which isn’t exactly what you would consider a tech company) enough to give Alfie a shot.