Voice commerce is the biggest shift in consumer shopping since the advent of mobile ecommerce. Just as the internet did, voice shopping increases convenience and ease while minimizing the friction of traditional retail experiences, including long lines, restrictive store hours, and the lengthy checkout process on traditional websites. Voice penetration in retail is already seeing success in purchasing products, but what are the other areas of the customer shopping journey likely to see new value with the addition of voice interaction?

1. Voice AI’s Growing Role in Retail
How voice recognition is changing the
retail landscape

2. Introduction
For many retailers, artificial intelligence (AI) and voice
technology are becoming popular choices in their efforts
to continue generating positive returns in 2019 and
beyond.
One of the key components of any retail experience is
communication between brands and customers. In order
to increase their margins, brands will do their best to
personalize the customer experience, which is where
artificial intelligence can contribute both in online and
offline interactions.

3. 40%
Percentage of shoppers that will use
voice assistants to make purchases by
2021.
(Capgemini 2018)
Amount of purchases that will be made
with voice-enabled devices by 2022.
(Voysis 2018)
$40B
$8B+
Spend on AI technologies by the retail
industry by 2024.
(Global Market Insights)

4. How is retail leveraging voice
and AI?
● Voice technologies have matured from voice commands to natural
language for any smart device.
● Machines now adapt to human language.
● Mass marketing at low price of voice assistants.
“TURN ON THE LIGHT”
“I would like to increase the
brightness in the living room
by 30%”

5. How is retail leveraging voice
and AI?
VOICE SHOPPERS
The percentage of use of voice assistants varies
between 34% and 62% depending on the age
group (Qriously), with the highest level in the age
group 18-24.
The most common activities for which shoppers
use voice currently occur at the beginning of the
purchase journey, rather than at the conversion
phase. A combined 87% of online shoppers use
voice in the research and selection of products.

6. How is retail leveraging voice
and AI?
RETAILERS
28% of retailers have already deployed AI in their
operations today, with examples including AI for
procurement tasks and optimizing supply chain
route plans. Currently, AI is mainly employed in
customer-facing retail activities and the
sub-sectors leading the way are Apparel and Food
& Grocery.
Retailers expect that integrating artificial
intelligence will build better customer relations
and generate higher sales. They also expect AI to
enhance customer satisfaction and uncover
customer pain points.

7. What’s next in voice shopping?
We will experience a shift in how people use technology day-to-day, and new habits are
already developing in relation to this technology.
Total smart speaker sales are expected to be as much as $30 billion in 2024 and the
amount of voice purchases will jump up in the next few years.
Customers will expect post-purchase voice services and greater customization, adapted
for their specific use cases.
It makes sense for retailers and businesses to embrace this
momentum and make their products accessible for purchase through
voice assistants to remain competitive.

8. What will make you profitable?
The potential of conversational interfaces is greater because there are productivity
gains to be realized with speaking, which is objectively faster than writing or typing.
Capgemini estimates a $340 billion savings over time for retailers that are able to scale
their AI initiatives over the entire spectrum of their operations.
Intelligent voice automation have the potential to create great
profitability across the entire value chain, not only in projects that
enhance interactions with customers, but also in operations-facing
retail activities.

9. Where will we find AI in retail?
85% Demand
forecasting
75% Marketing, ads
and campaign mgnt
85% Supply chain
planning
79% Customer
intelligence
73% Store
operations
73% Pricing and
promotion
IBM’s forecasted penetration of AI across the value chain by 2021.

10. Deploying AI successfully
REQUIREMENTS to deploy AI
efficiently in the entire value chain
BENEFITS of deploying AI
efficiently in the entire value chain
● Preliminary strategic
planning
● Organizational
prioritization
● Growth mindset
● Real-time decision making
● Quality improvement,
agility and efficiency
● Long term cost reduction
and revenues increase

11. Big Tech’s trojan horse risk
Voice assistants have immense possibilities. However,
in addition to concerns about the protection of
privacy, voice assistants expose merchants to the risk
of being marginalized by US cloud players in an era
where a brand must be a trusted partner for the
prospect in order to win that customer’s business.
It has certainly become fashionable to own an in-home voice assistant, whether this
assistant takes the form of a Google Home or Amazon Alexa-powered device.
While a voice assistant is admittedly an innovative technological boost, it puts brands
at the mercy of cloud players who gleefully collect customer data and could use that
data to compete directly with the brand, if they do not already do so.

12. Big Tech’s trojan horse risk
EXPLICATIVE EXAMPLE Imagine a business that distributes its products through Amazon: its
customers must go through Amazon to access its products. Hosting
products on Amazon already requires conforming to an undifferentiated
brand aesthetic, but beyond this hit to brand identity, Amazon itself
benefits from all the information related to the purchase of the business’
products. As a result, Amazon can at its own convenience propose its own
products, either by positioning them more advantageously or simply by
diverting the customers in question.
Cloud players are building a structure in which they become the inescapable center.
By allowing cloud players to gather information such as the buying histories and
preferences of customers, retailers are exposing themselves to a serious threat.

13. Big Tech’s trojan horse risk
CREATING YOUR OWN
ECOSYSTEM
For those who choose to use voice assistants,
alternatives exist in the form of assistants that work
through proprietary technology.
These alternatives do not require the data to pass
through a third-party cloud.
This means adopting a strategy of disengagement with big cloud actors in order to avoid
the risk of marginalization and build an ecosystem by joining partners and voice assistant
providers who respect consumer privacy.

14. Founded in 2013 by three PhDs,
Snips has 21M€ in funding and
over 40 enterprise clients signed
within the last year. With the ability
to create bespoke voice commands
and natural language interfaces,
Snips is leading the embedded
voice revolution.
letstalk@snips.ai
Click to discover more:
https://snips.ai