Is Shopping With Voice A Bust?
Amazon shareholders got a bit of bad news from a recent eMarketer report. US consumers have embraced the smart speaker trend, snapping up millions of devices. However, they tend to use their new Voice based tools for simple commands rather than for Voice-base shopping as analysts projected. Only 21.6 million people are expected to have made a purchase using a smart speaker by the end of 2020, a drop of nearly two million over the previous estimate.
Security is a chief reason for the hesitancy, again according to eMarketer. User are uncertain whether the platforms or the devices can be trusted. Users would feel more confident if they could inspect the shopping cart and confirm the totals before making the purchase. As a result, some platforms have rolled out Voice assistants with screens, but they are competing with consumers sunk investments in Alexa and Google Home.
In this case, Google Assistant has a distinct advantage, being primarily available via smartphones with built in screens. We at TsaTsaTzu all see these types of studies are more evidence suggesting convergent evolution — where Voice and Visual interfaces are thoroughly embeded — is inevitable.
There is also the question whether current voice recognition is equal to the task, a point on which the report is silent.
We’ve also heard from a well known Alexa Champion that the platforms ” … have undermined their own credibility by seeking to populate their markets with lowest common denominator applications.” Another conference attendee stresses the need to focus on quantity rather than quality. And we’ve wondered many times when will market forces are produce incentives that would bolster the former.
Learn more at TechCrunch “Shopping With Smart Speakers Is Not Taking Off, Says Report”
