‘It’s like Star Trek’: voice-activated shopping tipped to become US$40 billion industry in US by 2022
According to the report Apple is lagging in this sector because its Siri assistant lacks the AI capabilities of Google, and the new HomePod has only just hit the market
Hey, Google, order a large pizza! Alexa, I need vitamins!
Voice shopping using smart speakers and smartphone apps is starting to gain traction among consumers, opening up a new “conversational commerce” channel and potentially disrupting the retail sector.
Devices such as Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers and Google Home, which use artificial intelligence to respond to voice commands, are offering new choices to consumers who are looking for more convenient ways to order goods and services.
Voice shopping is expected to jump to US$40 billion annually in 2022 in the United States, from US$2 billion today, according to a survey this year by OC&C Strategy Consultants.
“People are liking the convenience and natural interaction of using voice,” said Victoria Petrock of the research firm eMarketer. “Computing in general is moving more toward voice interface because the technology is more affordable, and people are responding well because they don’t have to type.”
A recent eMarketer survey found 36 per cent of US consumers liked the idea of using a home-based assistant like Amazon Echo for making a purchase.
Amazon’s devices, which hit the market in 2015, were designed in large part to help boost sales, and Google Home was launched a year later.