• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, November 5, 2018

One of the more subtle features of "The First" drama series on Channel 4 about landing on Mars came as Sean Penn navigated his way through a very difficult day (no spoilers). As the plot progressed, many of his everyday actions were voice-activated. From opening a car door to getting up the news feed for launch day and chatting with the crew, everything was voice-driven.

This is almost certainly how services will evolve, given the numbers we are all seeing around voice services. Canalys suggests 56m smart speakers will be shipped this year, and multiple research studies that say when people get a smart speaker Alexa or Google Assistant is routinely asked several questions every day. Google reckons a smart speaker will asked something nearly three times per day and a mobile gets a voice command once every three days. 

The interesting part is what voice is currently being used for. Right out on top, way ahead as the biggest use for more than half of us, is simply asking Alexa or Google to play a song. News headlines are just behind on 40%. Movie, history and sports questions are right up there too when we want to know the score from the game, which king came before Edward IV and when the latest release is showing in town. 

Stores get a bit of a looking in, for one in five of us, but this is to find out opening times. Product research is about as common as asking a math-related question, for one in eight of us, but voice commerce is incredibly low. In fact, The Information recently carried out research that shows just 2% of Alexa users have ever bought a product via voice. 

Nevertheless, there are 40,000 "skills" developed for Alexa and a couple of thousand for Google Assistant. Sure, a lot of these will be about branding to raise awareness but many are hoping to get us to part with cash via our voice. Branding makes perfect sense. Diageo, for example, has a service that helps users make cocktails in the hope that will not only boost sales but place its brands front of mind for users when they come to search for products via brand names rather than a generic term for the spirit concerned. 

Buying pizzas from Domino's and washing powder with P&G? That is currently a stretch. People are listening to music, hearing the news headlines and finding out what is on at the movies, but the part that involves spending money is a little way off.

However, voice commerce is not pie in the sky. Jam tomorrow, most definitely, but not pie in the sky. Comcast expects that half of all searches will be made via voice by 2020, while Gartner's estimate is around a third. There is disagreement, but the point is that voice is on the verge of becoming massive. All new channels start off as non-commercial, useful sources of information until they blossom into commerce. 

So right now there is a clear disconnect between how consumers are using voice and what brands are hoping they can get them to do. However, when you think about it, it's for a very good reason.

With voice search, you only get one result. Your brand has to be the answer, not just one of many listed on a screen. For that reason, brands have had to push early to build skills and actions that will make their name synonymous with voice. Then, when people become more comfortable with approving purchases, they will be in a better position to be the brand that is asked for.

There is a massive disconnect right now, but these early voice commerce efforts are surely as much about branding as they are about commerce.

Companies know that voice commerce is a tiny area right now -- but give it a few years and half of searches arriving via voice must surely begin turning into purchases within a handful of years.