We’ve heard of eCommerce but what on earth is vCommerce? For a more formal definition, Techopedia describes vCommerce, also referred to as voice commerce, as user interaction with a commercial Web site that incorporates voice recognition technology and replaces the typical point-and-click online decision-making process by prompting the user to speak into a microphone. In short, the user talks to the site instead of having to click to shop and purchase.
Does this sound too futuristic for you? Don’t knock it just yet. As of February 2018, 35% of US voice-enabled speaker owners (i.e. Amazon Echo or Google Home) added household and grocery items to their carts via their voice-enabled devices.
And stats like that are only expected to grow! Comscore research predicts that 50% of all searches will be voice searches in the US by 2020. And by 2021 it’s estimated early adopter brands that have redesigned their websites to support visual and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by 30%! That’s some significant income potential.
So what’s the benefit? There’s several, for both the consumer and the brand. For one, voice is not only our most native form of communication but also the most emotionally charged with the ability to have inflection and tone. It gives greater leverage to the brand to impact decision making by hitting emotional purchase decision sets. Voice also allows for personalized interactions that are beneficial to both the consumer and merchant. It can tailor products and services to users’ preferences and habits while providing more insight data to the retailer.
Of course this transformation will not change overnight, and brands will need to evolve their platforms to be voice-friendly. This includes developing content, SEO and shopping platforms that allow for voice integration. Brands will need to develop apps that bridge the path between their shopping platforms and voice-enabled devices. SEO will need to include voice discovery programming, and along with all the back-end development, it will need to be promoted. That part hasn’t changed. A solid social media campaign along with digital ads will drive both awareness and traffic.
At Catalyst, we are already working with clients to implement these voice capabilities. As we work with various food and beverage clients, we see opportunity to streamline consumer shopping experiences by connecting devices like Google Home and Amazon Alexa with retail platforms, making shopping at-home even easier, more educated, and more personalized than shopping in-store.
Wondering how you can get your brand ahead of the game? We’ve got you covered with strategies and ideas!
