Alexa, Order Me Another Alexa

What does someone who already owns a voice-enabled smart speaker want this holiday season? Another smart speaker, of course.

At least that's what Adobe Digital Insights found when it recently surveyed 1,000 US smartphone users. Some 45% of smart speaker owners polled said they plan on buying another one during the holiday season, and roughly a quarter (23%) of smart speaker owners said they intend to share the love and buy one for someone else. 

This boom in smart speaker ownership and use should come as no surprise. Earlier this year, we significantly raised our forecast for US smart speaker users from 2017 through 2020 because of the stronger-than-expected adoption of the device. This year, Amazon Echo will will capture 66.6% of the US smart speaker audience, while Google Home will capture 29.5%. Though Amazon Echo is losing share as other players, like Google as well as smaller rivals, begin to grow—smart speaker usage is accelerating. 

For the most part, consumers are turning to these devices to help with an array of tasks, like finding out what the weather is like, setting a timer or even researching a few things. But gradually, more digital buyers are getting more comfortable shopping via these devices. While estimates of voice buying activity vary, usage will continue to rise as more consumers turn to these devices to reorder many of the necessities they've come to rely on, like paper towels and toilet paper.

According to our estimates, there will be 17.2 million smart speaker voice buyers in the US by the end of the year, making up 28.2% of US smart speaker users.