Operating an ecommerce business today is more difficult than ever. Competition is increasing, while consumers are becoming more demanding and will not pass up the opportunity to switch to a competitor if their service quality is inadequate.

Multiple well-functioning consumer connection channels are one of the key success factors in retail. According to Forrester’s Getting to Know Your Customers report, 62% of customers prefer to communicate with firms through multiple online platforms. As a result, only merchants who are willing to provide such an experience will be able to differentiate themselves, expand, and profit.

In this regard, ecommerce digital transformation, which entails the implementation of innovative technology, is one of the most effective strategies to acquire a competitive advantage. That is why more businesses are turning to ecommerce development to take advantage of technologies like voice commerce, which allows customers to purchase things by speech.

This article introduces the concept of voice commerce, discusses its applications, benefits, and obstacles, and offers implementation advice.

What is Voice Commerce?

Voice commerce is a technology that enables people to buy and sell online using only their voice. Today, voice commerce is at the forefront of technical progress in the ecommerce business, having transformed how people use the internet and engage with brands.

For example, if you have a smartphone or tablet with a voice command interface (VCI), or devices like Amazon Alexa and Apple HomePod, you may use a voice command to view a product catalog, check the rating of a certain item, place an order, and even pay for a transaction. Voice commerce benefits both brands and consumers because it simplifies and accelerates the traditional purchase experience.

From the outside, voice commerce users can use commands on Amazon Alexa, Echo, or other devices. The software then generates the results and returns them to the consumers. However, if we delve further, we may discover that voice commerce is more sophisticated, with numerous steps hidden behind the curtain.

• First, the consumer says a voice command, for example, “Alexa, I want to buy a vacuum cleaner with a targeted spray nozzle. What offers are there on the market?”
• The system then converts the voice to text and extracts its meaning.
• After interpreting the voice command, the voice commerce system decides what to do next.
• After determining which answer would be most relevant to the user, the system turns it into text and then converts it into audio.
• As a result, the user receives a voice response, which may sound something like: “There is one product that may suit you. Should I make an order?”

Of course, in real life, recommendations may vary depending on the user’s request and the specifics of the voice commerce system.

What are the Components of Voice Commerce?

We can distinguish three main components of a typical voice commerce system.

• Hardware

Voice commerce always involves an appropriate device – a smart speaker with an in-built voice assistant or a mobile phone empowered with a virtual digital assistant (VDA), such as Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa.

• Software

Voice commerce software is located on the user’s device (typically, it is a mobile app or a solution installed on a smart speaker) and serves as an intermediary between the device and the retail platform.

• Platform

After receiving a voice command from the app, the cloud platform interprets it, submits the relevant result, and then returns an answer back to the app, having previously converted the response into the human speech format.

Now that we have discussed what voice commerce is and its main components, we should look at how the technology is used in practice.

Voice Commerce Use Cases

Voice commerce technology has the ability to change the entire buying experience by allowing customers to complete all steps using voice commands. Let’s go over each of the technology applications in more depth.

Application 1. Product discovery

A growing number of consumers want to search for products online, avoiding the hassle of manual typing, so voice-powered product search is becoming increasingly popular. According to Statista, in 2021, browsing for new products was the most popular voice-command purchase activity in the US, with 44% of surveyed consumers performing this action at least once.

So how can brands make their products searchable via voice? The approach primarily depends on their business needs and the choice of voice commerce platform provider.

Read Also: The Benefits of Voice Commerce for Businesses With Physical Products

For example, if a company uses a Google Merchant Center account, it can entrust developers to create APIs and sync existing product catalogs with Google Shopping. Then APIs can submit data from the catalog (for example, information about prices, item features, or product availability) and transmit it to the Google Merchant Center. Then Google Shopping users will be able to discover these products using voice search.

This is just one example of how you can make your products searchable by voice, however, there are even more technological applications. For instance, you can follow the approach to voice marketing taken by Nike.

A couple of years ago, the company launched a basketball game broadcast aimed at promoting a collection of shoes with a voice-activated self-lacing feature. During the broadcast, consumers who liked the shoes could type “Ask Nike” into Google Assistant. Then, the voice commerce system transferred users to the page where they could pick up a pair of shoes. Thanks to this campaign, Nike was able to sell the entire collection within just six minutes.

Application 2. Self-ordering

Once a consumer discovers your product, they may want to make an order, and fortunately, voice commerce technology provides brands with this functionality. Instead of going through a multi-step shopping process and navigating multiple tabs and website pages, your customers can order the product they want with just one voice command. If a consumer has already made purchases in a store, he or she may even skip the product discovery stage and simply say something like, “Alexa, reorder the same brown chair that I bought a week ago.”

Walmart’s Voice Order is a solution that allows customers to order groceries by voice on the go for home delivery or schedule to pick up products in the store. Over time, Walmart has modernized the solution by enabling integration with Siri AI, thereby making shopping easier for iOS users.

Other companies have implemented even more exciting voice commerce solutions. For example, Honda Innovations has a voice-powered assistant Honda Dream Drive that allows Honda drivers to reserve parking spaces, order food, buy movie tickets, and use a navigator while driving, all using only voice commands.

Application 3. Self-checkout

Voice technology is changing not only how people shop but also how they pay, as voice-based payments are becoming more widespread each year. Research and Markets expect that the global voice payments market will reach $14.66 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 10.9% between 2022 and 2030.

Today, an Amazon Echo smart speaker can use information about a user’s preferred payment methods, such as a credit card number, to make online payments after receiving a voice query. In turn, the Google, Apple, and Facebook platforms support integration with PayPal, allowing customers to use this payment system via voice while walking or driving home.

Application 4. Delivery tracking

Typically, when customers order something on the internet, they receive a link for delivery tracking. If a customer wants to check the shipping status or specify the delivery time, they should open the site, paste the link, and get the info. As you might have guessed, voice commerce technology can make this process more simple and convenient.

For example, a customer might say a phrase like, “Alexa, when will the laptop I ordered yesterday arrive?” and the system will provide the exact delivery time. Depending on the functionality of the voice commerce system, customers can also edit the delivery time or clarify the delivery terms.

Application 5. Post-purchasing service

Besides the applications above, voice commerce also helps brands provide omnichannel customer support and ensure that customers get a seamless, stellar experience. For example, clients of Oasis Clothing, a women’s fashion clothing brand, can use the Oasis app to send a voiced complaint regarding a purchased item. Then, the system connects the client with the company’s support department, or, if a person wants an exchange, delivery to a store or directly to the customer’s house can be arranged.

How to Start With Voice Commerce?

The success of a voice commerce development project is heavily dependent on your knowledge of your ecommerce firm, its technological capabilities, and your consumers’ behavior and preferences. As a result, it is best to begin with a full business analysis, which will assist you in determining whether voice commerce is viable for your business case, what your project goals are, and whether your in-house team possesses the necessary capabilities to execute the technology.

As an option, you can start by asking your IT staff, marketing managers, and sales reps these questions:

• What does our existing customer journey look like? Will voice commerce help us streamline it?
• Should we implement voice commerce only for smartphones? Can targeting smart speaker users be more relevant?
• Which hardware provider should we choose and why?
• Can we develop voice commerce software from scratch? Which voice commerce platform should it be compatible with?
• How should we integrate the voice commerce system into our existing ecommerce architecture?
• How can we optimize our products for voice commerce?

The answers to these and other questions will help you decide whether you should initiate a software development project and where it would be better to start. In case you are unsure about your project idea, do not hesitate to consult with voice commerce technology experts.

What are the Pros and Cons of Voice Commerce?

Pros

Now that we have discussed some examples of how eCommerce businesses can apply voice commerce, let us look at the benefits it may bring.

• Improved customer experience

Since voice commerce enables consumers to make purchases and get information much more easily, implementing this technology can positively affect the customer experience.

Moreover, accompanied by the appropriate AI-driven engine, a robust voice commerce system can adapt to a specific customer by choosing the correct language and tone when responding. Thus, by implementing voice commerce, brands not only get one more channel of customer interaction but also provide clients with personalized experiences, thereby increasing their loyalty.

• Enhanced digital presence

Voice commerce can be a great assistant in terms of growing your business and increasing your sales because it improves your products’ discoverability. With voice search, you can reach new audiences eager to use smart devices and make your services accessible to people with disabilities, enabling them to make purchases via voice.

According to the Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report 2022, the total installed base of smart speakers in the United States has grown from 47.3 million units in 2018 to over 90 million in 2021 and is expected to expand to around 95 million units in 2022. Some of these smart speaker owners can potentially become your customers, and if we take into account the users with mobile VCIs, your potential customer base can be even more expansive.

• A deeper understanding of customer needs and wants

Serving as an additional sales channel, voice commerce can also prove an inexhaustible source of customer data. For example, you can better understand what customers require by analyzing what products people buy via voice and how frequently they do it. Later, you can use this information to fine-tune and personalize your marketing campaigns, replenish your stock, create more relevant offers and recommendations, or leverage e-commerce-specific predictive analytics tools.

Cons

Despite all the advantages of voice commerce technology, it is still not perfect. Here are some issues that enterprises may face when implementing it.

• Lack of trust

Unfortunately, not all customers are yet ready to buy goods via voice. Some people can be wary of their voice messages, purchase history, and other data being recorded and transferred to third parties, while others worry that their children can purchase something while they are unattended. Since these fears are not so easily dispelled, retailers need to consider them when tapping into voice commerce development.

• A limited number of integrations

Even though progress does not stand still, not all service providers are ready to work with voice commerce technology, which in some cases may limit the growth of your ecommerce business. Although some forward-looking platforms like PayPal already have the functionality for making voice-driven transactions, you should remember that many payment systems and banks do not yet support voice commerce.

• Speech recognition errors

A feature-poor voice commerce system may also have several technological limitations. Most commonly, it may incorrectly interpret natural language and misunderstand user requests, especially when a customer speaks with an accent, has diction issues, or uses slang and professional jargon.