Alexa, What Is Voice Commerce? Exploring the Next Evolution of Online Selling

Tap-to-pay. Buy now, pay later. Omnichannel purchasing pathways. The convenience economy has taken over the ecommerce space. 

The next evolution? Voice commerce.

With voice command commerce, customers can search, browse, and purchase products by using smart speakers and voice assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Alexa.

While voice commerce is still in its early adopter stage, it’s growing to be a central part of the digital economy, giving consumers quick, easy, and convenient ways to shop for products and services.

Here’s a look at how voice commerce is poised to be the next step in ecommerce and why it could be a lucrative option for today’s Amazon sellers.

How Popular Is Voice Commerce?

Voice assistants and smart speakers are nearly ubiquitous today, mainly because they offer a nearly effortless way for people to access the expanse of the internet.

A 2022 Speakergy study found that 45% of Americans owned at least one smart speaker. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that number has only risen, showing a 78% year-over-year increase, according to National Public Media.

People use their speakers for all sorts of things, too: 93% said they check the weather or news, 80% play music, and 50% place phone calls on their speakers, according to Speakergy. While using smart speakers for commerce is still relatively new, it’s a rapidly growing area of ecommerce. Speakergy notes that 30% of people used their smart speakers to shop in 2022.

Lower commerce numbers might have something to do with the accuracy of current voice assistants. Some research shows that the accuracy of voice assistants for commerce varied between 68% and 92%, depending on the smart speaker. As technology improves and consumers increasingly want quicker, easier ways to shop, voice commerce will no doubt continue evolving as an ecommerce staple.

Is Voice Commerce for You?

As a burgeoning ecommerce option, voice-assisted commerce holds big potential for Amazon sellers. To determine if optimizing your product content for voice search is the right way to go for your business, consider these two aspects:

Target Audience

Your products have a specific audience — so your voice commerce should, too. Consider the places where your customer might be thinking about your products. They might be looking at kitchenware while they’re cooking, for example, or storage solutions while they’re in the garage. If your product is something a customer would think about when they have a voice assistant at hand, the chances are higher they could use it to find you. 

Then, consider the age, gender, and income level of your audience. These can tell you a lot about who might have and use a smart speaker. Younger millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 tend to use voice assistants the most, says Insider Intelligence, while 50% of Gen Xers and only 30% of baby boomers use them.

Figuring out who your target audience is can help you determine whether voice commerce is a worthwhile pursuit for your business.

Product Type

One of the biggest benefits to shopping on Amazon: the product reviews.

You might think that a product that customers would need to read multiple reviews about before purchasing might not be a big hit on voice commerce. But that’s not the case. In fact, people are increasingly using smart speakers to research their products and read reviews.

When shopping with their voice assistant, customers also commonly buy products that require little decision-making (such as a recurring product like toilet paper) or that they can add to a cart for a later mobile or online purchase.

Think about your products and what kinds of information customers might be looking for before they purchase. Then, ensure your product listings include reviews, specifications, and other details that people might search for on their smart devices.

How to Take Advantage of Voice Commerce

The best way to prepare for voice commerce is to create comprehensive product information. Detailed, keyword-rich descriptions help voice assistants find the right information to answer a customer inquiry.

Another benefit to crafting strong product copy? It helps your mobile and online commerce, too.

Making your products easier to find on voice commerce involves many of the same things required for them to sell well online and mobile, including: 

• Optimizing product listings with images, videos, and keyword-driven content.
• Using descriptive and accurate titles and bulleted lists.
• Categorizing products effectively.
• Setting competitive price points.
• Gaining an Amazon Choice badge.
• Outlining shipping times and costs.
• Identifying and catering toward correct user intent for products.
• Hitting the Amazon buy box.
• Increasing your number of customer reviews.

All of these things boil down to one thing: giving customers the right information at the right time. It helps build customer satisfaction, while building voice commerce opportunities.