Voice shopping: is it finally taking off?

A few years ago (in 2018), on this blog we already pointed out the possibilities of online shopping using voice commands.

Today, there has been a logical evolution, since there is a greater number of voice assistants or compatible devices. And, on the other hand, users have got used to using their functions.

Let's take a look at the state of voice shopping today.

The main difference between online shopping based on screen-based interaction and voice-based interaction - it seems obvious - is that this channel requires specific hardware that not all potential customers have.

Internet access is becoming more and more universal in most markets. For many years now, users have had devices and connections that allow to browse and shop at any time.

It is true that phones have assistants such as Google on Android or Siri on iOS, but these two are more oriented to solve informational queries "how to go to...", "phone number of..." "service near...". They are at the top of the conversion funnel. They undoubtedly contribute to sale, but in a more indirect way.

Then we have the most transactional assistant of all: Amazon's Alexa. Its smart speakers, at heart, are a platform to keep selling. It is logical, since they have the whole eCommerce ecosystem very well assembled.

Quantifying the number of devices available is not so simple, but there are some studies, such as the one by Statista, that forecast that we will reach 8.4 billion devices by 2024. The projection is, to say the least, eye-catching.

But, in terms of voice shopping, this other data presented by Voicebot is even more relevant: in 2025, transactions using this method will increase from $22 trillion last year to $164 trillion.

A very typical feature of eCommerce is that the pioneers or early adopters are often linked to younger age groups. Although this was initially the case, eCommerce has become generationally transversal.

However, in the case of voice shopping, we do see a younger profile, although not as much as many would expect. According to studies such as the one by eMarketer, it can be seen that smart speaker users are mostly male (20.4% of the population) and are within the generation of the so-called Millennials, well above the Centennials or Baby Boomers.

Why are Millennials more prone to voice shopping? The theory goes that they are native users of digital technology and that makes it natural for them to interact with different channels that, for older generations, still represent a greater number of frictions, brakes and distrust.

However, Centennials, who on paper should be even more responsive to these strategies, do not consume as well. This is due to a basic demographic issue: these users often do not yet work and their purchasing power is comparatively lower than that of the above age group.

Therefore, we can conclude that the coming years will see a sharp increase in voice-activated sales and that the important thing is to appeals the Millennials now in order to capture the most profitable population group.

Not everything is purchased equally or in the same proportion in voice commerce. To identify the most profitable products, we will analyze the different categories and niches.

If we carefully analyze, we can understand that the trend is always to go for products with a certain recurrence in their purchase or brands and models that we are familiar with, and that should not differ from one retailer to another in anything more than a specific offer.

There are also other possibilities that come from advancing in the Customer Journey. I mean that we "discover" the item in another channel and we can add it to the cart via voice or, on some platforms such as Amazon Echo, even close the conversion completely provided certain circumstances are met.