INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Some numbers published in a report from The Information reveal that very few owners of Alexa-powered devices use them for shopping
Of about 50 million Alexa users, only about 100,000 reportedly bought something via voice interface more than once
It not exactly surprising, but it may still harm the narrative of conversational commerce that Amazon and others are trying to advance.
The
Amazon Echo and its brethren are mostly used for the expected everyday purposes of listening to music, asking what the weather will be like
tomorrow and setting timers
All of these things are obviously things that phones do as well, but there something to be said for having a stationary hub for the more
domestic tasks.
But part of the expectation of seeding the home with these devices has been that users would also make purchases using them:
&Alexa, order more Oreos,& or &Alexa, buy a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones.& This always seemed rather odd, as people tend to want
to look at items before buying them, to check reviews, to shop around for better prices and so on
Who would just buy something by telling their Echo that they want to
Amazon opens up in-skill purchases to all Alexa developers
Hardly
That said, it would be a bit disingenuous to pretend that conversational commerce is anything other than one point in a litany of proposed
uses for the likes of Alexa, running the gamut of credibility.
As a hub for increasingly common smart home devices, Alexa is a great choice
And although groceries and impulse purchases may not be something people do via voice, an Echo is a great seller of subscriptions like
Spotify and Audible, not to mention future possibilities from queries like &Alexa, call me a plumber.& And of course there the whole
behind-the-scenes industry of ads, promotions and clever use of voice data.
Why would anyone use these devices to shop It like using a
Possible, but not recommended
The other stat The Information mentions is that a million people have tried buying stuff but only 100,000 continued
It may be that this side of e-commerce is merely not &mature,& that catch-all term that could mean so many things
But it may also just be that it not something people want to do.
