Voice search technology, like the majority of sub-sectors in the tech space, is dominated by a small number of players. Amazon Echo represents a whopping 70.6% of all voice-enabled speakers in the US, with Google Home in second at 23.8%. But do those facts from these two online retail giants signal that voice search is going to be the future of that vertical? This edition of Now & Next looks at whether voice search has a future in the retail space, if advertisers and retailers need to shift their search strategies accordingly, and whether consumers will really turn to Alexa for their shopping.

The newest member of the family

It’s not hard to see why voice search technology is so popular. The competitive price-point of the leading players in the market (£119 for Google Home, £150 for Amazon Echo), and the range of activities they can perform, make them a relatively inexpensive addition to the home. Although consumers have been learning the capabilities of the tech, however, one area they have not been enamoured with, to date, is the use of voice search to complete their shopping.

The image below shows the results of a Northstar Research survey conducted in 2014. This outlines that query topics for teens and adults show that voice searches have very little connection to retail, with the most retail-relevant search looking for directions to brick-and-mortar stores.

However, in the last couple of years, this has started to change. One report shows that 19% of consumers have made a purchase using voice-controlled devices in the 12 months from July 2016 to July 2017. In that time, 43% of millennials say they have made a purchase using voice, including 37% who ‘always’ or ‘often’ shop using voice-controlled devices.

Why has shopping on voice-controlled devices taken off?

Put simply, shopping on voice-controlled devices has seen increased uptake because the technology is improving. When shopping on these devices, users can now buy multiple items from different merchants in a single transaction; have their Google Home device understand customer preferences (including price sensitivity); and add items to a shopping list, which is accessible across multiple platforms.

These changes, combined with improvements in how well voice search recognises what users are saying, is building consumer confidence, and making voice devices a viable platform from which to shop. What’s more, with consumers willing to spend money through voice-controlled devices, leaders Amazon and Google will continue to invest in similar improvements to Echo and Home respectively, to bolster the voice shopping experience and further drive uptake.

Developing visuals has to be the priority

The biggest consumer concerns for shopping using voice-controlled devices stems from a lack of visuals. The fact users cannot be visually reassured about security and privacy when making a payment, is creating uncertainty about payment methods.

As a leader in the market, Amazon has sought to address this issue, with the release of the Amazon Echo Show, which features a display screen. However, competitors have been slower to react, with Google’s Home apparently developing a device with built-in display, and Apple’s HomePod yet to make it to stores.

A lack of screen also raises the issue of how to monetise voice search, something which is not an issue on smartphone, tablet or desktop, where users can glance over paid search responses. If a consumer looking to shop via an Amazon Echo gets a paid response, and three organic responses, the paid response becomes harder to ignore, as the user must listen through the ad. Intrusive advertising such as this erodes trust.

So what should Amazon, Google and the voice-enabled shopping market do? Choose not to monetise? Given the names involved in this market, that seems unlikely. The priority has to be on developing visuals to accompany voice shopping. At first, this might be through your smartphone or tablet, but the development of AR and VR could see the rise of virtual screens to fill this role.

With the issue of visuals already being addressed, it looks as though a lack of screen for voice-enabled shopping will only be a footnote when this means of retail reaches the mainstream. What’s more, with the lucrative sums available on days such as Black Friday and Singles’ Day (and the rise of ecommerce more generally), providers of voice-enabled shopping technology will be under pressure to improve UX on these platforms as soon as possible, to maximise profits.

Is a world, where voice search is the norm, good for retailers?

There are definitely some retailer benefits of increased uptake of shopping through voice search. Perhaps the biggest of these is a better understanding of customer intent. Users search differently using voice, to how they would using their smartphone or tablet. They will ask questions in full sentences, and often be more specific in their criteria when using voice search. By comparison, text search is often kept as short as possible - usually just a few words. This increased level of specificity in search will give retailers a chance to target consumers more effectively.

On the other hand, the rise of voice search has the possibility to take audiences away from retailers, and put them in the hands of the tech providers. As retailers begin to depend on Amazon Echo and Google Home for their sales, the tech providers will find themselves in a strong negotiating position, as they will be able to ask for special dispensations for all customers using their platform. In this instance, retailers will find themselves unable to reject such terms, as to do so would rob them of a significant amount of income.

Voice search also has the capacity to destroy customers’ loyalty to retailers. When adding items to a shopping list (a process which will now take a few days, rather than 10 minutes at the kitchen table), consumers will not specify which supermarket they want to order from. Instead, Echo might compare prices across retailers, or look at recommendations for products given by people of a similar age. The relationship between retailer and customer is in jeopardy.

Shopping with voice search is here to stay, so how will retailers change their strategies?

The biggest change that retailers will have to make to accommodate shopping with voice search, is to change their optimisation strategies. This will consist of a shift from short-tail, to long-tail, keywords, which better reflect the way people actually speak, as well as the development of more conversational content, which can be expressed well through voice.

However, with so many retailers focussing on optimising towards mobile (quite rightly, with 60% of all searches taking place on mobile devices), optimising towards voice search is often getting overlooked. With the rate at which shoppers (especially millennial shoppers) are turning to their voice-enabled devices for shopping, advertisers need to think about how their optimisation strategies can take advantage of trends in both mobile and voice search.

Voice search represents the next step in taking the shopping experience to the consumers, wherever they may be. If retailers and brands are not prepared for it, they risk becoming irrelevant, and forgotten by even their most loyal customers.