Amazon Customers Leading the Way in Voice-Enabled Shopping, Study Shows
Remember when radio ads were a big deal? Retailers, get ready to go back in time. Voice-enabled shopping is a growing trend, driven by Amazon.com's Alexa and competing products by Google and Apple.
This isn’t just a fad. Voice-enabled smart speakers could infiltrate over half of U.S. households by 2022, according to a recent report, and it’s a theme CPC Strategy confirmed in its 2018 Amazon Shopper Report.
According to the survey of 1,500 U.S. consumers, 14.2 percent of Amazon shoppers made a purchase on Amazon via a voice-enabled device in the past six months, citing “convenience” as their main motivation.
Additionally, the survey revealed that older adults (ages 55-64) were the most likely out of all ages to use voice-enabled devices to shop, which could be attributed to the lack of complication compared to using a mobile device or even desktop.
The device of choice? 61.3 percent of respondents reported they own an Amazon Echo or Dot, while 33.7 percent own a Google Home and 5 percent own an Apple Homepod.
Shoppers will increasingly rely on Alexa to make their purchasing decisions. While some brands are reportedly already advertising on Alexa, most are uncertain about how to approach voice as an advertising medium.
“Amazon is already doing video ads in search, Fire TV, mobile, desktop — basically everywhere,” says Ryan Burgess, senior marketplace channel analyst at CPC Strategy. “My guess is that the process for creating these ads could be similar to that of video ads. Retailers will probably have to meet a certain set of requirements for length, content, file quality, etc. Additionally, the spend minimums will likely be pretty steep.”
Our study also reveals that Amazon happens to be the perfect place to advertise. A whopping 90 percent of Amazon shoppers either "Don’t notice ads" on Amazon or find them "Useful and relevant."
Amazon’s focus on putting customers rather than advertisers first has been successful.
“As time goes on, Amazon will continue to improve its native advertising experience for shoppers, ensuring they’re helping consumers to find the right product, for the right price, at the right time,” says Nick Cotter, marketing manager at CPC Strategy.
Many retailers would benefit right now by advertising and selling on Amazon, with current ad options including sponsored products, which are integrated into the shopping experience alongside organically ranked products.
We’re not entirely sure what direction voice-enabled shopping will take, but we should take it from Bezos himself: Amazon is going to “double down” on the Alexa consumer experience.
Voice shopping isn’t going anywhere, and it’s up to retailers to stay on the cutting edge.
Have questions or ideas about where voice-enabled shopping is headed, and how retailers should react? Comment below or email Leanna@cpcstrategy.com.
Leanna Kelly is a content specialist at CPC Strategy, a company that specializes in performance marketing through e-commerce sales and advertising channels like Google, Amazon, Facebook and more.
