Voice Commerce

The voice commerce definition states it as a specialized technology-based e-commerce involving voice commands to help customers shop per vocal instructions. It has not yet fully evolved to replace manual browsing-based shopping for customers, but many retail companies have been found investing in v-commerce to offer consumers a better wire-free shopping experience. 

The voice commerce technique combines human speech and artificial intelligence and follows a series of steps to work in the best way: 

• The first step involves recognition of users' speech, which is done by transcribing spoken words into text. 
• Then, an advanced algorithm evaluates audio waveform segregating into phonetic elements that are matched to recognize phrases and words. 
• After the speech gets transcribed, the system has to understand the meaning conveyed by the words using NLP. 
• As a result, the system understands the requests, commands, and questions of the user accurately.

Some V-commerce systems integrate AI-powered voice assistants like Apple's Siri, Google's Google Assistant, or Amazon's Alexa to give a conversational, user-friendly interface to consumers. V-commerce systems use different application programming interfaces (APIs) & third-party services to complete user requests. Moreover, robust safety measures like encryption of data and authentication are implemented to protect financial data and user information from unauthorized access.

Let us use a few examples to understand the voice commerce trends and their working. 

Example #1

A February 2024 study indicated that the more human-like sound of a voice assistant on a shopping platform encourages consumers to buy products from there. According to this study on The effect of anthropomorphism of virtual voice assistants on perceived safety as an antecedent to voice shopping conducted in Spain, consumers feel safe to engage in voice shopping when they find the virtual assistants have human-like qualities in their voice. 

The study showed how important it is to gain the trust of consumers when it comes to online shopping, where people fear engaging given the privacy and data breach threats involved. The researchers made participants listen to audio clips where the virtual assistants read product reviews, and they found that the voices with more human-like qualities were considered more trustworthy.

Example #2

Suppose a popular local retail store, Rivermart of Old York, initiates a voice-based system for its customers using a vocal assistant named Riva. Riva has the aesthetics of making shopping more comfortable and easier for old York residents. The residents have to simply say – Hi, Riva, buy my groceries, and Riva answers by asking what items they need to buy. 

Users dictate the list of items to buy, like milk, coffee, bread, corn, and eggs. Riva, the vocal assistant, selects these items, adds the appropriate quantity to the virtual cart, and then helps customers proceed to checkout. Riva, in addition, also allows users to query about ongoing sales or product recommendations. 

The features make Riva a time-saving and smooth shopping assistant for the residents of Old York, thereby helping them meet their daily shopping needs easily.

Using voice commerce in retail provides a number of benefits to consumers, encouraging them to shop online with ease. Let us have a look at some of these advantages:

• It allows shopping using voice without the hassle of manual internet browsing.
• Gradually, online shoppers are using voice assistants for their shopping needs, and the number, per voice commerce statistics, is slated to increase to 157.1 million users by 2026. Hence, companies adopting voice-based commerce will see increased sales and revenues with time. 
• Many people shop online because of the convenience it offers. Voice commerce embedded in websites or apps offers the speak and shop facility, increasing consumer convenience.
• Local businesses can stand out from bigger e-commerce giants by implementing voice-based commerce. 
• V-commerce decreases the time taken to complete a purchase.
• It helps match the right products based on the customer requirements shared via their voice instructions.
• The technique helps gather customer profiles and demands to customize products as per their needs.

Despite multiple benefits, V-commerce exhibits certain challenges as well. Some of them have been listed here:

• It raises privacy concerns for users as they fear sharing confidential details like addresses, contact details, and purchase histories with third parties or the government.
• It also increases the risk of unwanted purchases by children using voice-based assistants.
• Many times, voice assistants have failed to recognize the user's voice, which has led to wrong or irrelevant results, creating high dissatisfaction among customers. 
• There has been a limited number of voice-enabled payment options for customers. 
• Voice commerce has limited banking network integration.