The Future Of Shopping Is Through Voice Technology
Voice estimated to hit US$40 billion in the U.S. & U.K.
Voice interfaces have matured and now deliver consumer value through devices like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home. In the U.S., it is estimated that 13% of homes already own an Amazon Echo or Google Home, and 36% of people use a voice device to make a purchase in any given month. You don’t have to imagine a future where your car, home, and office are connected seamlessly because voice-assisted interfaces can be picked up at your local electronics store or ordered online.
The cross-platform integration of voice technologies will disrupt and affect future shoppers' behavior and the nature of shopping itself. The rapid digital transformation across industries will spill out to physical locations and turn today’s shopping mall into an experience focused entirely on the customer. The French cosmetics conglomerate the L’Oreal Group in China has already made significant changes and strengthened its e-commerce and digital marketing to propel its beauty brands into today’s future.
“Our brands are creating more personalised and engaging consumer experiences with amazing digital services like virtual try-ons, diagnostics and live streaming — all this is building relationships between brands and consumers.”
— Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oreal Group Chairman and CEO
As brands connect their shoppers through digital environments, it’s only a natural progression for consumers to be connected through voice technology. Shopping behemoths like Walmart have already jumped onto voice technology to create hyper-personalized content for their audiences. Retailers and consumer goods companies will benefit from direct access to consumers, and their marketing and sales tactics will evolve to adapt to new audiences.
5 Ways consumers benefit from voice technologies
As voice technologies start to become the new normal, consumers will start to carve out more time for activities they see as more important. As people decide to cut out menial tasks with the help of voice, we will spend more time with family, friends, and recreational activities. What may have taken you an hour or two will now take you minutes through your voice assistant.
- Order groceries and keep your fridge stocked with fresh food.
- Never forget an important purchase like a family birthday present.
- Get instance voice searches and answers for holiday destinations.
- Receive important business information whilst performing menial tasks at home like cleaning or house maintenance.
- Play your favorite music through your home instantly.
Voice technology adapts to new audiences
It’s not just retailers and consumer brands that have adapted to voice technologies. Television broadcasters now create purposely written content in a way that people can digest on their Amazon Echo or Google Home. TV broadcasters adapt their headline news, sports reports, travel guides, food recipes, and all types of content to connect with younger audiences. It’s their last Hail Mary to stay relevant.
The BBC has announced Beeb, a digital voice assistance device, to compete with Alexa. The race for audience’s attention started in the 1920s with the advent of Radio programs. Today, the major difference is that behemoths like Amazon and Google have the infrastructure, data, and consumer base to push broadcasters out and make them irrelevant. Now we see younger generations watch and digest content on their own terms. According to a recent study, 47% of adults between 22–45 years of age do not watch any TV and use streaming services for Sport, News, Life, Education, and Entertainment.
Marketers have followed audiences and now create bite-sized Ads for brands through voice technologies. We already listen to voice Ads that are embedded into our podcasts. There are two types of podcast Ads:
- Live Reads
Typically done as a live read by the host and introduced throughout the podcasts at different times organically.
- Pre-Produced
These are created by brands or consumer good products and often sound like a traditional radio spot. Often accompanied by sound effects, music, and other high-end production elements.
Voice technology becomes the new normal through platform integration
As more people own smart fridges, your fridge will talk to your voice device so that your grocery shopping will become automated. You will no longer need to go to the grocer as your fridge can let you know what you’re missing. When you come home from work in the evening, your Amazon Echo might ask you whether you want to order items that are missing from the fridge, like milk, vegetables, or eggs. With a simple “order now” or “remove milk from cart, and order now,” your groceries will be conveniently delivered.
It is estimated that by 2022 voice shopping will hit US$40 billion in the U.S. and U.K. alone. Owners of smart speakers are typically younger, more affluent, and more likely to have families living at home.
Final Takeaways
We have seen a huge appetite and uptick for voice-driven content through podcasts and even the recent success of social platforms like Clubhouse. It won’t be long until other social media platforms like Snapchat integrate voice for their partnered content, offering the latest highlights or events through voice activations. In the connected car experience, the race headed by Tesla, will also mean voice-activated assistance will become the new norm for a future car manufactured vehicle.
The winners and losers of voice technologies will become apparent quicker than people will realize. Brands and consumer goods products that don’t evolve with audiences and take advantage of consumers who already use voice technologies like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home will be left behind.
“The outside world can push you into Day 2 if you won’t or can’t embrace powerful trends quickly. If you fight them, your’e probably fighting the future. Embrace them and you have a tailwind.”
— Jeff Bezos
The growth in voice technologies within a short period of time is impossible to look past. Companies that have adapted to voice technologies are ahead of the curve. Right now 27% of the global population are using voice search on mobile according to Google. Businesses that continue to rely on consumers to use traditional search through browser activities on Google will fall behind in the blink of an eye. Companies need to start experimenting with new platforms before they become irrelevant to a large customer base, especially in luxury and high-end consumer goods markets.
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Thank you for reading,
Rick Govic
