Alexa, I Need … Everything. Voice Shopping Sales Could Reach $40 Billion By 2022

The retail revolution that is shifting sales from stores to laptops to smartphones could be on the verge of its next sea change — when shoppers will ask Amazon’s Alexa, and other voice-driven speakers, to order just about everything. Purchases made through devices like Google Home and Amazon’s Echo are projected to leap from $2 billion today to $40 billion by 2022, as technology improves, U.S. consumers become more comfortable, and the speakers become nearly as commonplace in homes as a flat-screen TV, according to a new study from OC&C Strategy Consultants. “We really see this as the next big disruptive play in U.S. retail,’’ says John Franklin, associate partner at OC&C which surveyed 1,500 smart speaker owners in December . The smart speaker space is one that many tech giants want to play in. Though Amazon and its digital helper Alexa have come to define the niche, Google Home with its Google Assistant is second in popularity. Apple began shipping its Siri-assisted HomePod smart speaker in February. Microsoft’s “Cortana” is also part of the mix. Read more at USA Today.