Voice commerce technology is leaving its impact on so many spheres at so many different levels. Recently, it has shown its evolution that has brought immense change in e-commerce too. So, let us examine how voice commerce trends have affected online shopping portals and how it blooms into the next big thing e-commerce has to see.   

Voice commerce means 

• Online purchases through voice commands 
• Mouse and keyboard replaced by voice commands 

What is voice commerce? 

In very simple words, voice commerce technology is here to replace the use of the keyboard and mouse that we use for ordering products online. It enables the customer to browse for the products and make online purchases by giving voice commands. Virtual assistants like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa will help you find something and order what you need on your behalf.   

Making a purchase or completing your check-out process has become faster with evolving voice commerce trends. The best part is, at any time of the day, whether you are in the shower or kitchen, your virtual assistant can hear you and easily fulfill the commands you made. 

There are three main reasons why people are falling for voice commerce technology. They are: 

• Hands free operation 
• Does not need dedicated attention to work through it 
• Fetches result faster than manual browsing 

Omnipresence of voice commerce technology  

Voice commerce trends are very prominent in devices that are being launched recently. LG refrigerator was powered with Alexa voice commands that can order food items online as per what you say. Even the cars made by Ford and Volkswagen have Alexa enabled in the system that lets them do voice shopping as they drive.   

Voice commerce trends are so popular that now Amazon is providing Alexa Skills Kit under Alexa Voice Service API, which lets you customize the voice commands of your own. It is very easy to use, and it definitely makes the work faster.    

Similarly, Apple’s Siri API, which Samsung now acquires has collaborated with so many brands to integrate the voice commerce technology in them. There are so many advanced voice commerce trends that now you have Echo Look from Amazon, which allows you to talk to someone to get an opinion on your selfie.   

Trending voice commerce technology 

• Apple’s Siri 
• Amazon Echo Look 
• Amazon Alexa 
• Google Home 

Also, Alexa’s artificial intelligence has a Style Check service that gives wardrobe suggestions, and you can also provide it with voice commands to order trending clothes online. This is exceptional and very helpful for tech-savvy people who love to upgrade in terms of technology.   

These advancements are merely on the basis of the initial success that voice commerce trends have seen. After a few years, there are chances that retailers will fully be flooded with orders through voice commerce technology.   

How is voice commerce technology used?  

Let us start from the basics! A customer needs a mobile or a smart speaker which is integrated with a virtual assistant. The most popular brands that have set up efficient voice commerce trends are Google Home and Amazon Echo. The virtual assistants can help you find the music by listening to the tune, searching for particular detail related to any topic, and making online purchases ranging from food to apparel.   

The artificial intelligence of your virtual assistant has your previous history saved, and you can even ask them to reorder the stuff for you. They are linked to respective e-commerce sites and sort out the options accordingly from them. You can ask for different recommendations from the assistant, and they will do it on your voice command.   

Smart speakers get activated with the help of a word like Ok Google for Google Home and Alexa for Amazon Echo.  

These virtual assistants will help you gather data like the number of orders placed via voice commands, which category receives maximum orders via voice commands, etc. This data help the retailer in refining the services they provide based on understanding the personal interest of the customer.   

Challenges of voice commerce technology 

• Customer switch to manual mode for ordering and exploring products 
• Pronunciation problems 
• Invasion of privacy issues, as the smart speaker is always listening 
• Extensive amount of coding required for voice e-commerce 

Like every coin has two faces, so is the case with voice commerce technology. While one part of the targeted audience is utilizing the service completely, there are other sets of people who face issues. Let us discuss those issues here!   

Trust issues 

With growing voice commerce trends, people like the fact that virtual assistants recommend new products. But, if you see the stats, only 39% of the audience wanted to trust those recommendations. The rest of them only relied on ordering the same stuff again.   

In order to explore new products, customers always switched to manual mode for exploring and checking rather than ordering merely on the basis of the virtual assistant’s suggestion. Most of them wanted to see the new product and go through its features, even when dimensions and specifications were told to them.   

Natural language processing 

This is a major challenge of voice commerce technology because the way we type the words differs from how we pronounce them. Consumers tend to communicate with the virtual assistant with a natural tone, and this is how it poses a challenge. It requires more effort from artificial intelligence to optimize the command and find the right product.   

This also means that business needs to adapt their SEO strategies depending on the voice commerce trends. 

 While optimizing the search options, the retailers must make sure that it catches and processes the longer sentences properly. By doing this, you are ensuring more relevant options for your customer.  

It is your duty as a retailer to understand the differences that might occur while typing and giving voice commands. This can be rectified by including words that are likely to be used by customers while searching for a product. Your keyword research will come to play an important role here.   

Privacy issues 

While giving voice commands, the virtual assistants are always alert, and they constantly listen to other things that you or people around you are saying. 36% of people revealed that they are constantly worried and insecure about the fact that the virtual assistant is listening to what they are speaking apart from giving voice commands. This does not make them comfortable with smart speakers at home.   

How does voice commerce technology affect small and medium sized retailers? 

If you are already tracking the source of your sales and keeping a record of it, then it will help you decide whether voice commerce is worth the investment or not. If you see that a significant number of customers are using voice commerce trends to do online shopping, this could prove beneficial for your business.   

For example, Amazon Echo is the most used smart speaker that people use, and they prefer to buy home entertainment items. So, retailers associated with this business tend to optimize their product pages according to voice commerce trends. This helps them generate more sales and make online shopping easier for the shoppers.   

Thus, we can conclude that voice commerce technology is the next big thing that e-commerce can adopt 

While we are already improving many things for customers to enhance their online shopping experience, it is worth considering voice commerce trends. Even though there are some concerns and challenges, there is no doubt that the technology will improve. If it hits the market, it will make a good impact on business and make the task easier for many shoppers. Hence, e-commerce retailers should keep this in mind and plot their strategies for growth accordingly.