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of consumers have engaged in voice shopping
projected U.S. total of voice commerce sales by 2022
of smart speaker owners shop monthly by voice
Voice makes shopping faster and easier and had been tried by over 20% of consumers in the U.S. by mid-2018. You simply say what you want to purchase, confirm the order with you PIN and the transaction is complete. The ease of use is driving rapid adoption and forming new shopping habits.
» Product search and comparison by voice is often done on smartphones but voice purchases are being led by voice assistants on smart speakers.
» Alexa pioneered voice ordering for Amazon.com purchases in 2015 and has expanded that to digital subscriptions and daily deals.
» Google has countered with Google Express voice ordering through Google Home directly from leading retailers in the U.S.
Brands Should Consider Pre-Purchase and Order Placement Activities
Voice commerce is about more than simply placing orders. Shopping includes awareness and consideration phases in the path-to-purchase and these pre-transaction steps are already seeing increased voice engagement. Voice search is being used to identify products available for purchase and to compare alternatives. Some of those transactions go on to be consummated by voice and others are completed through other channels.
The key for brands is to ensure they have content available that is easily accessible by voice shoppers and provides audio and visual content in a suitable format to move the consideration process forward. A key part of voice commerce readiness is content optimization for voice shoppers. Early adopters of these techniques will have a big advantage over competitors as the channel grows.
When the consumer decides to purchase the next question is whether a brand can continue the conversation all the way through to payment and order confirmation. Alexa provides this capability for orders through Amazon.com and Google Express can execute orders directly with dozens of retailers through Google Assistant.
These are the primary partners that most brands will work with to ensure voice assistant purchasing is available to complement voice assistant shopping. Eventually, other tools will be offered to enable voice assisted purchases through mobile apps and websites, including iOS devices through Siri. However, today, the technology is in place for Alexa and Google Assistant and these are where consumers are forming habits around voice purchasing and where brands are seeing how voice can drive incremental revenue.
To learn more about voice commerce options in custom voice apps, click the button to speak with a voice expert.
