Since its global launch, the Amazon Echo has rapidly cornered the bulk of the global smart speaker market. With a market share of almost 30%, Amazon's smart speaker range sits head and shoulders above the competition.
While millions of consumers have been happy to bring an Echo into their homes, few can be pleased with the voice shopping experience the Amazon currently offers. Owing to several barriers, the adoption of voice-based shopping has been abysmal.
However, it seems that, with Amazon's latest Alexa update, that's about to change. Here's how...
Amazon Pivots Voice-Based Shopping on Amazon Echo
Amazon's announcements at Alexa Live 2021 indicate that the retail giant is finally giving Alexa a much-needed shot in the arm. The hope is to supercharge Alexa, the Artificial Intelligence that powers Amazon Echo, into a robust voice shopping platform.
Some of the key announcements at the event include new Alexa features like event-based triggers, proactive suggestions, and a Send to Phone feature. Other announced features include an improved shopping filter and the expansion of Alexa Smart Reorders.
The Send to Phone Feature
One of the main concerns with voice shopping is the inability to preview the products you want to buy before paying for them. It's one thing to see what a product looks like and a different thing to listen to Alexa read out its features.
Although the introduction of Amazon Echo devices with screens, such as the Amazon Echo Show, has helped solve this problem, millions of customers still own smart speakers without displays.
With the introduction of the Send to Phone feature, Amazon hopes to solve this problem. According to the company, the Send to Phone feature will help link customers from Alexa skills to apps and websites so they can complete a task or get detailed information about a product.
This means Alexa users will soon be able to explore products by voice, and, when needed, instantly preview the product on the phone before committing to a purchase.
The whole process is going to be seamless and automated, with little-to-no manual input from the customers.
The Expansion of Alexa Smart Reorders
Alexa Smart Reorders—a feature that allows customers to reorder certain household items when they're running low—will now expand to include replacement parts of more household and smart home devices.
Previously, customers that set up their Amazon Echo for smart reorders got replenishment support for household items like detergents, batteries, and printer inks. With over 100,000 smart home devices now compatible with Alexa, Amazon wants to significantly expand the reach of the Smart Reorder feature. The recently released tools will help the company achieve this.
Already, thermostat makers Carrier and Resideo have announced Alexa customers will soon be able to replenish air filters for their smart thermostats. Bissell will also make it possible to tie Smart Reorders to its vacuum cleaners.
With the announcement of the expansion, Alexa users who love Smart Reorders can expect a wider reach for the replenishment service. It's no more just petty items like laundry detergent and batteries; smart reorders will now be available for hundreds of smart home devices.
Improved Shopping Filters
When shopping on your smartphone, it's easy to tune your search filter to find the kind of products you need.
Need a black shoe without heels? Simply tuning your search filter can do the job.
Unfortunately, doing this kind of product filtering using voice commands can be a bit tricky. Amazon released the "Slot Negation" API for developers, a tool that is described as something to help "your customers to indicate things they don't want, like 'shoes without white soles.' "
It remains to be seen exactly how Alexa skill developers will choose to use this tool. However, if they can immediately adapt it for product filtering, Alexa customers users can expect improved voice shopping in the near future.
Event-based triggers and Proactive suggestions
This isn't necessarily a shopping-specific update. However, the announcement of proactive suggestions and event-based triggers represents a real estate of possibilities.
Developers could leverage this tool to build things like an Alexa skill that reminds users to purchase something during a certain season or time of the day. The possibilities are endless.
Is Amazon Gun-Shy on Voice Shopping?
For several years, Amazon has failed to capitalize on its smart speaker's potential as a powerful voice shopping tool. Considering how easy it is to tie a voice command to a purchase, Amazon Echo should be at the forefront of online shopping.
Unfortunately, only a small number of Amazon Echo owners are using it to shop online. Owners instead continue to use Alexa for basic actions like checking the weather, playing music, or turning off their lights.
Perhaps the retail giant became a little gun-shy from the voice shopping fails publicized in the past, as there have been several cases of mistaken purchases.
In 2017, Quartz reported that Alexa mistakenly ordered a ton of dollhouses after a child triggered the home assistant. According to CBS News, as the news went viral, a local news anchor reporting on the incident also accidentally triggered orders for dollhouses by Echo units in the home of their viewers.
To be fair, although shopping actions can be easily triggered on Alexa, it requires voice confirmations before orders are made. The incident where a child ordered a ton of dollhouses occurred because a voice confirmation had been made.
However, there's no denying that this represented a huge flaw. Amazon has since fixed some Alexa voice shopping flaws. For example, users can use a voice password to protect their Alexa device from such financially costly goofs. The company now also has a refund policy that covers such accidental orders.
The Future of Voice Shopping With Alexa
The number of voice shoppers is growing. Although much slower than expected, there is a lot of progress in this regard. Amazon may not be doing a lot to supercharge this growth (at least in the eyes of users), but a boost in the number of voice shoppers means the company is being forced to pay closer attention to voice shopping and the technology that powers it.
Amazon customers might have to wait a while to see the effects of the recent Alexa updates on voice shopping. However, one thing is sure, at least; change is coming, and voice shopping might finally be maturing.
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