Voice commerce space set for major growth but retail challenges remain

E-commerce transaction values via voice assistants will reach $19.4 billion by 2023, rising from $4.6 billion in 2021, according to Juniper Research.

It predicts that the availability of voice assistant devices with screens will be imperative to increasing the monetisation of voice assistant commerce services, by improving the efficiency of the checkout process.

It also says that growing the size and accessibility of content domain libraries will be critical to increasing the number of transactions processed by voice assistant services.

In turn, this will increase the value proposition of voice commerce to third-party retailers, and generate new revenue streams for voice assistant platforms.

Leaders in this space, Amazon, Apple and Google, should open up their platform-based commerce services to third-party retailers, in addition to leveraging their own ecosystems to expand their monetisation capabilities.

However, a key hurdle to attracting third-party retailers is the absence of a screen in many smart speakers, limiting the contextual information presented to users.

Juniper Research recommends implementing omnichannel strategies to enable retailers to display further information on a product.

Juniper Research’s Meike Escherich comments: "Users will generally use voice assistants to initially explore a product, before completing the purchase via a device with a screen.”

“Voice assistant platforms must ensure that the user experience is so seamless that transactions are carried out via these platforms, rather than requiring additional devices."

The global installed base of smart speakers will rise by over 50% between 2021 and 2023, assisting the adoption of monetisation strategies.

While smartphone-based voice assistants will be dominant in usage terms, the rising number of standalone smart speakers means that the potential for commerce is growing rapidly, but this must be targeted with the right partnerships to achieve success.