Voice Control

Amazon is stepping up its home delivery options — and taking a swing at rival Walmart at the same time.

Target shoppers across the United States can now place an order using just their voice.

More shoppers across the United States intend to stay home this Black Friday weekend.

Retailers are more likely to increase their marketing budgets for Amazon than they are for Google, Bing, Facebook or Twitter.

Consumers are becoming more digitally influenced on a seemingly daily basis — but omnichannel retailers find themselves hard-pressed to keep up the pace. Retailers need to meet their needs across all touchpoints, and create a frictionless shopping experience despite where the shopping journey starts and ends.   

1-800-Flowers.com continues to embrace the conversational commerce game.    The gifting brand is preparing to launch a program that will enable its customers to place orders via Google Assistant on their Android phones and iPhones. Using their voice or text, they can access a menu of gifting categories, and place orders for delivery nationwide. The service also enables users to specify same-day delivery or schedule a gift’s arrival for a future date.  

Walmart has officially gone live with voice shopping on the Google Home platform.   As it was announced back in August, the discounter is partnering with Google to allow its customers to shop for Walmart items through voice via Google Assistant, the search giant's online shopping platform that lives on its smart speaker. On Wednesday, the partnership went live, with more than two million Walmart items available through voice.   

Consumers are growing increasingly comfortable using connected devices for daily tasks — and shopping is not far behind.    As more devices connect to chatbots and virtual assistants, an increasing number of consumers are ready to embrace the automation and convenience delivered by IoT technologies. Nearly half of consumers (48%) said they would feel comfortable with a connected device, such as a refrigerator, ordering items on their behalf.  

A new Alexa skill is helping Perry Ellis’ customers dress for any occasion.   The menswear brand is assisting its shoppers with the “Ask Perry Ellis” Amazon Alexa skill. Called the first-of-its-kind, voice-activated skill, the technology supports a modern, frictionless shopping experience that enables customers to use their voice to find the right look, and shop for merchandise.   

Amazon's Echo is in expansion mode just in time for the holiday rush.   The online giant on Wednesday announced five new Echo products, along with several other new gadgets. And none of the items cost more than$150, TechCrunch reported. The new items include Echo Plus, which will do double duty by also serving as a hub for smart home devices.