While consumers are using smart home speakers to listen to
music and answer questions, they’re also increasingly using them to buy things.
Voice shopping is already a $2 billion business and projected to grow to $40 billion within four
years.
Online retail giant Amazon is projected to dominate the home speaker market, which will grow from 13% to 55% of homes, according to a study comprising a survey of 1,500 smart speaker
owners conducted by OC&C Strategy Consultants.
Three tech giants lead the virtual assistant AI space in the U.S. Amazon’s Echo has 10% penetration, Google’s Home 4% and
Microsoft’s Cortana 2%. Apple just recently launched its high-end HomePod smart speaker.
There are some twists in voice commerce, however:
- Only 39% of consumers trust the
personalized product selection of smart speakers
- Voice purchases tended to be standalone, lower value items
- There are only 39 retailer connected applications within the voice
shopping category
- Only 44% of consumers believe that smart speakers offer the best value selection of products
However, Amazon still has the upper hand. A large majority
(85%) of consumers select the products Amazon suggests.
That Alexa is one smart voice retailer.