Voice shopping is not a major commerce channel, but genAI and Gen Z could change that

As more consumers use voice assistants for shopping, brands should make sure their products are shoppable via voice, either on websites like Amazon or on their own sites. This is particularly important when trying to reach Gen Z shoppers, who are driving growth in voice assistant use. As generative AI (genAI) improves, voice assistants will be able to speak more naturally, and consumers will lean further into voice-enabled shopping.

Voice assistant use is growing, especially among Gen Z.

• Voice assistant use is growing slowly (2.9% this year) but steadily, per our forecast. This year, 48.7% of US internet users will also use voice assistants.
• Gen Z’s voice assistant use is growing faster than any other generation, hitting 9.1% YoY, per our forecast.
• Most voice assistant users (89.2%) are accessing the tech via smartphone, a trend that is particularly pronounced among Gen Z (94.5%).

Voice assistants aren’t a serious commerce channel, but introducing AI and other assistants could accelerate its use, according to VML’s The Future Shopper report.

• 23% of global consumers say they use voice-activated smart assistants to make regular purchases, per the report.
• An additional 19% have used smart assistants to order, with many of these sales coming from young people, the report shows.

Information retrieval is currently the leading use for voice assistants, per data from Voices and Momentive. Brands and advertisers should not wait for voice-activated commerce to mature before focusing on how consumers use the technology. They should instead prioritize achieving first position in search results so their site is referenced by voice assistants, and consider voice assistant use yet another reason in the long list of why SEO is important.

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