Smart Speakers: Shopping Via Voice
September 27, 2018
- Author: Steve Koenig, CTA Vice President, Market Research
September/October 2018
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Smart speakers like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa are shifting many online consumer behaviors and, in the process, establishing voice as the new user interface. Shopping is perhaps the most interesting — and impactful — behavioral shift of all. CTA’s Voice Shopping study (August 2018) quantifies the trend, finding 40 percent of consumers who have interacted with a smart speaker in the past year have used them to shop for or buy a product.
Referred to as “v-commerce,” voice shopping is poised to become an entirely new sales channel, joining the traditional omnichannel mix of physical stores, online and mobile. Therefore, brands and retailers are rushing to answer voice orders while also rapidly developing voice “identities” to literally answer consumer questions. Echoes of the disruption witnessed 20 years ago with e-commerce are loud and clear.
Disruptive Innovation
With robust connectivity in place, expect adoption of voice shopping to ramp much faster than online did at the dawn of the millennium. Why? Smart speakers are becoming embedded in everything from mobile devices to cars. Smart speakers like Google Home or Amazon Echo are at the forefront of this armada of consumer devices. CTA research pegs ownership of smart speakers at 22 percent of U.S. households (May 2018) and forecasts nearly 40 million smart speakers will ship annually this year. But what are consumers doing with smart speakers?
CTA’s Voice Shopping study found consumers turn to smart speakers for many of the simple things they ordinarily do online or from their mobile device via an app, such as weather updates, setting an alarm, internet searches, sending a message, checking a sports score and, of course, shopping for products.
Unlike the early days of online shopping, voice shoppers are immediately shopping and purchasing both durables like electronics and consumable items like groceries. The analysis yields some key insights to this still evolving behavior. Electronics are the top (36 percent) product category voice shoppers have shopped for (driven by men), followed by food/groceries (driven by women). But when it comes to making a purchase, food/groceries top the list (30 percent), followed by household supplies (26 percent) and electronics (25 percent).
On the Spending Front
The consumer data tells a story of experimentation, but the trend is a distinct re-election of other sales channels. For example, more than half of all voice shoppers in the CTA study said they spent less than $250 over the past year. However, 27 percent of men and a fifth of women who made a purchase via voice spent $500 or more.
Among consumers who have interacted with a smart speaker in the past year but have not shopped by voice, 59 percent say they prefer other sales channels like stores or online. These shoppers cite unfamiliarity with how to shop via voice (33 percent) or harbor concerns their order will not be placed correctly (30 percent). Yet 86 percent of voice shoppers who made a purchase say they are satisfied with their transaction.
More, 66 percent of voice shoppers who made a purchase are extremely or very likely to do so again in the next 12 months. But expect spending levels to remain low compared to online or physical stores. The research shows repeat voice shoppers, on average, plan to spend $100 or less next year. Meanwhile, first-time voice shoppers will likely spend less than $50 on their inaugural transaction.
Voice shopping is another example of disruptive technology innovation. These early purchases mark a major shift in shopping behavior that will refashion the retail landscape much faster than online or mobile ever did.
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