A key reason for the revised forecast is that device-makers haven’t fully gained users’ trust. Potential buyers are still concerned about it comes to secure payments and privacy. The absence of screens on many smart speaker models is an added aspect of this problem—people often want to see products before a purchase. As a result, some voice buyers are instead opting to make purchases with other voice-controlled devices that have screens, such as smartphones and tablets.
“There’s a good deal of friction in the voice-based buying process because people can’t see what they’ll actually be purchasing unless they have a screen on their smart speaker,” eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock said. “So, most of the purchases made today are reorders and things that don’t need to be inspected.”
The downward revision in the number of smart speaker buyers is also due in part to readjusted estimates for the types of activities users conduct on the devices. In our Q2 2019 forecast, we expected 27.9% of smart speaker users to make purchases with their device in 2020. We have now lowered this percentage to 26.0%.
In contrast, we made an upward revision to the percentage of smart speaker users listening to audio (81.1%) and making inquiries (77.8%). This shows that users are going back to the basics, using their devices for simple and straightforward tasks. (Please note that our “inquiries” number does not include inquiries about the weather, news or traffic.)