Amazon wants owners of devices with the Alexa voice assistant inside to fly the flag of consumerism and buy like there's no tomorrow. That's at least what can be deduced from a new feature called "Customers Ask Alexa" that will allow brands to provide answers to everyday questions such as "How can I remove pet hair from the carpet?" or "How do I get rid of the smell of stains on the floor?"
Before Customers Ask Alexa came on the scene, Alexa responded to such questions by searching the web for generic answers, but in the future Amazon's voice assistant will be able to respond to such questions with ads.
The responses that brands provide to consumers through “Customers Ask Alexa” are not, however, sponsored in nature . Brands do not have to pay to access this functionality and simply need to be registered in Amazon Brand Registry to record their responses.
“Customers Ask Alexa” will be available in the Amazon search bar in late iran number data 2022 and on Echo devices in mid-2023.
Aware that this new feature could be somewhat intrusive for consumers, Amazon assures that all responses registered by brands will be subject to moderation tools and quality tests.
The program will be launched next October, initially based on an invitation system , and will gradually be launched more widely throughout Unidos in 2023.
While the “Customer Ask Alexa” feature was initially intended to boost Amazon’s sales through devices equipped with its voice assistant, it seems unlikely that unwanted product placements could actually boost sales for the e-commerce giant. Especially since Alexa users are generally reluctant to make purchases using the popular voice assistant . According to eMarketer, only 10.8% of consumers used Alexa to make online purchases in 2020.
This has not prevented Amazon, however, from trying to cover products that use the Alexa voice assistant with a thick advertising veneer . In 2021, the company led by Andy Jassy launched interactive audio ads on Amazon Music (an application installed by default on Echo devices) that allowed the user to directly add the products promoted there to the shopping cart using the voice command "Alexa, add to cart". Recently, Amazon also teamed up with several brands to display promotions in static images displayed on Echo devices.