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5 takeaways about voice shopping from our latest research

Amazon Pay research finds consumers ready to embrace voice in their shopping journey. Check out our latest infographic and key findings.

1. Embrace voice to satisfy the next level of commerce experiences consumers seek

Until six years ago, all the talk was about three commerce channels – brick and mortar stores, e-commerce (through internet on computers), and m-commerce (mobile web and apps). With tens of millions of Alexa enabled devices in the world, ‘voice’ is quickly emerging as a channel that merits consideration. The 2019 Amazon Pay Connected Commerce study* validates voice’s emerging potential as 39% of the 1898 US consumers surveyed indicate that they are likely to use voice services in at least some part of their shopping journey in the next three years. Even at such a nascent stage, one-fourth of consumers believe that voice services will replace smartphones, laptops, and desktops as a way of purchasing products in the future. This proves that businesses should not just consider ‘voice’ but embrace it in anticipation of the next level of consumer expectation.

2. Ease of use and speed drive voice commerce adoption

The top two voice commerce drivers are ease of use (54%) and speed (43%). We speak two times faster than we type. Through this speed, ‘voice’ facilitates convenience and satiates consumers’ desire to get more by doing less. This ‘doing less’ aspect is preferred by 39% of the consumers because it frees them up to pursue other activities. Additionally, 30% like the purchasing in-context/in the moment aspect of ‘voice’ as this is the only channel that allows consumers to move quickly from the ‘desire’ and ‘think’ phase to the ‘purchase’ phase. With the buzz around ‘voice’, 29% will try it for the novelty factor.

3. Consumers open to extending voice beyond commerce to financial management

Within the shopping journey, 29% of consumers indicate that they are likely to use voice to purchase products/services in three years. This trails activities such as checking weather (47%), listening to music (46%), reading news (38%), controlling smart home devices (33%) etc. Considering that those activities do not involve a financial transaction, the 29% number is promising as it implies that consumers expect ‘voice’ to evolve to a point where they trust it enough to pursue a transaction. This trust extends to the use of ‘voice’ for other financial activities such as paying bills (24%), banking (22%), sending and receiving money from individuals (18%), and donating to charities (15%).

4. Businesses must overcome security and trust concerns

Disregarding consumers who do not yet see the need for voice commerce, the primary barrier is the safety of consumer personal and financial information (48%). This trust deficit raises identity concerns as consumers fear someone else will purchase using their voice-enabled device (35%). Consumers also doubt if voice services are smart enough to help them choose the exact product they need (45%). There is also lingering mistrust about voice services constantly listening to conversations even when the user is not consciously interacting with the device (42%).

5. Voice needs to be an integral part of the ‘Connected Commerce’ strategy

We are in the midst of a commerce reset where consumers will toggle between channels within a single shopping experience. With 53% of consumers stating that they will recommend a brand if it offers a seamless and continuous experience across all channels, it is critical that businesses treat voice as an integral part of their overall commerce strategy.

See how Amazon Pay can help your business grow with voice.


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