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New research has highlighted that smart speakers in the home like Google Home and Amazon Echo are set to drive the next wave of travel industry technology and e-commerce.
A nationally-representative survey of 2,000 British adults commissioned by Artefact UK, an AI and data-driven agency, reveals six out of ten smart speaker owners (60%) have used them to make a purchase in the past year. In fact, nearly a quarter (22%) said they have done so within the past week.
The research also found that over a third (39%) of smart speaker owners have already interacted with brands via their device. When respondents were asked to identify what they think smart speakers can do, around half (47%) suggested using them for shopping or buying takeaways, 39% said they were ideal for playing games or quizzes and 28% suggested that you could use them for booking travel.
Sarah De Martin, managing director at Artefact UK, says: “Travel brands are starting to grasp the opportunity in voice technology: Kayak is already on Alexa, and the concierge service Alexa for Hospitality has already seen Marriott Hotels adopt Amazon Echo devices in its rooms. This might be another nail in the coffin of the high street travel agent.”
“Voice offers a simple and spontaneous path to purchase that reflects how people behave naturally. Four out of ten Brits already owns one or more of these devices, so the channel is nearing critical mass. Both Google and Amazon are offering aggressive discounts on their smart speakers and ownership grew by 79% last year alone.”
However, nearly half (45%) of smart speaker owners share a nagging doubt that they aren’t getting the most out of their device. The most common use scenarios are to listen to music, books or podcasts (57%) and almost half (47%) use voice to for basic search, such as weather forecasts or recipes. More than a third (38%) say they use their smart speaker as an alarm clock.
Sarah De Martin concludes: “There seems to be a significant disconnect in how people are using their smart speakers, as compared to what they ‘think’ they should be able to do with them. As the number of households owning smart speakers grows, there’s a significant opportunity for travel brands that can rectify this. This lies in both optimising search for voice and through branded skills that play to what people actually want from their devices.”
“The NHS made headlines recently when it announced its Alexa skill, which illustrates this point. It also shows that it’s not just the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google that can reach a mass audience through voice. The race is on for a travel brand to redefine what the technology can and should be. The age of voice has arrived, so don’t get caught with nothing to say.”
Over 600 clients rely on the agency’s profound marketing experience. Artefact, founded by three alumni of the renowned French Engineering School Polytechnique, Vincent Luciani, Philippe Rolet and Guillaume de Roquemaurel, has sustained a steady growth rate since its creation in 2015 and has multiplied its turnover threefold in 2016. Artefact is listed on the Euronext Growth Paris Stock Exchange.
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