Order-ing pizza from the sofa without lifting a finger has joined the list of modern-day conveniences thanks to a hot trend in voice-commanded smart speakers.
Amazon, Apple and Google are duking it out with devices designed to sit out of sight in homes, awaiting spoken commands to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, finding information, playing music, mapping routes, or reading email.
According to Gartner, the market for voice-activated speakers equipped with artificial intelligence and synched to the Internet will grow to $3.52 billion in 2021 from $360 million in 2015.
While it is difficult to assess how many people use the devices to order online, industry analysts see it as a trend.
“Shopping through speakers is still an early adopter activity,” said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.
“It’s going to be slow. It’s not going to be overnight.”
Thanks to bargain prices for Amazon Echo devices in particular, smart speakers are becoming mainstream but consumers are not yet ready to fully trust the technology, Milanesi said.
Voice-controlled shopping, for now, involves mainly straight-forward, repeated buys such as laundry soap or dog treats, with people tending to want to actually see big-ticket items, especially if they involve style or colour choices, she contended.
Lifestyles revolving around smartphones, with less time spent in front of desktop or laptop computers, were expected to enhance the lure of shopping by voice.
A fan watching a sporting match on television can simply call out for their favourite pizza. Someone cooking can give an oral order to restock olive oil before they forget.
Amazon launched its first Echo device in 2014 and has already sold millions of the smart speakers, according to industry trackers.
Amazon dominates the smart speaker industry, with 70 per cent of the market in the US while second-place Google Home has about 24 per cent, according to eMarketer.
And with the recent acquisition of trendy Whole Foods organic supermarket chain, Amazon will enable Echo users to order groceries from those shops. — AFP
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