Remember when we were all supposed to be shopping with just our voices? The late 2010s buzzed with predictions of a voice commerce revolution, fueled by the surge of smart speakers like Amazon's Echo Dot. Industry analysts confidently projected a market worth tens of billions by 2022. Yet, the reality has been far less dramatic. Despite Amazon's aggressive push, voice shopping never truly took off as anticipated. So, why did this seemingly convenient technology fail to live up to the hype, and what lessons can we learn about the future of consumer tech?
The Joyless Transaction: Why Shopping by Voice Isn't Fun
One of the primary reasons voice shopping hasn't dominated our lives is surprisingly simple: it's just not enjoyable. Jacquelyn Berney, president of tech marketing firm VI Branding, points out that for many, shopping is an experience, not just a task. "People *like* shopping," she explains, "and voice shopping takes away that dopamine hit." The tactile and visual elements of browsing - seeing, touching, and comparing products - are intrinsic to the pleasure of shopping for many consumers. Voice assistants, by their nature, strip away this sensory engagement.
Consider buying a new outfit. The joy of discovering a unique piece, feeling the fabric, and seeing how it looks is lost when you can only describe it to a disembodied voice. Similarly, purchasing complex electronics often involves comparing detailed specifications, reading reviews, and visualizing the product in your space - tasks that are cumbersome, if not impossible, via voice alone. Even for everyday items, the inability to quickly scan options or confirm details can turn a simple purchase into a frustrating ordeal.
Jason Goldberg, formerly SVP of commerce and content at Razorfish, highlighted this limitation back in 2018, noting that for items with intricate attributes like size, color, and material, consumers would likely never opt for voice purchases. This remains true today; the visual and interactive aspects of online shopping, which allow for informed decisions and a degree of pleasure, are largely absent in voice-based transactions.
The Cognitive Load of Convenience
While the promise of voice shopping was ultimate convenience, the reality often involves a greater mental effort. Reducing a consumer's "cognitive load" - the mental energy required to complete a task - is a key driver of sales in e-commerce. In theory, voice shopping should excel here, allowing multitasking. However, in practice, it can create a significant bottleneck.
"In practice, [voice shopping] can feel like more work because you're waiting for the assistant to talk you through things you could skim instantly on a screen or in a store," Berney notes. Navigating product catalogs, confirming quantities, or applying discount codes through a series of spoken commands and responses is often slower and more mentally taxing than using a graphical interface. Imagine trying to quickly reorder a specific brand of coffee beans or find the best deal on a new television using only your voice - the back-and-forth dialogue can be tedious.
This increased cognitive load deters users, especially for anything beyond simple reorders. For instance, trying to purchase a specific type of artisanal cheese or a particular model of running shoes would likely involve a frustrating dialogue with the voice assistant, making a quick web search or app navigation far more efficient. The perceived ease of voice interaction doesn't always translate into a smoother shopping experience.
Security and Trust Concerns
Beyond the experiential and cognitive hurdles, security and trust have been significant barriers to widespread voice shopping adoption. While voice assistants offer the convenience of hands-free operation, this very feature can pose privacy and security risks.
Keeping sensitive information like credit card numbers or account passwords secure when speaking them aloud, especially in a shared environment, is a major concern. This led to amusing, yet telling, incidents: children inadvertently ordering expensive items, pets issuing commands, or late-night hosts using voice assistants for comedic effect on air. These anecdotes highlight a fundamental lack of consumer confidence.
A study by PWC revealed that a significant portion of consumers - 45% - expressed distrust or discomfort with sending payment information via voice assistants (PWC, 2023). This hesitation is understandable; the idea of sensitive financial data being broadcast or potentially misinterpreted by a machine raises valid security alarms. For many, the convenience simply doesn't outweigh the perceived risk of unauthorized purchases or data breaches.
Where Voice Tech Found Its True Calling
The narrative around voice shopping often overshadows the genuine success of smart speakers in other domains. While Amazon may have envisioned Alexa as a primary shopping portal, consumers have largely embraced it as a sophisticated entertainment hub and information source. Millions of Echo Dots and similar devices have indeed found their way into homes, but their primary function has become playing music, setting timers, checking the weather, or controlling smart home devices - essentially acting as advanced radios or digital assistants rather than shopping kiosks (Berney, 2024).
Voice-powered shopping has, however, made modest progress. Consumer research from late 2025 indicates that while a notable percentage of voice-enabled device owners use them for tasks related to shopping, such as researching products or tracking packages, only a smaller fraction, around 22%, actually complete purchases via their smart devices (Consumer Insights Group, 2025). These purchases tend to be for predictable, low-consideration household staples like paper towels, cleaning supplies, and batteries - items that are easy to reorder and require minimal visual confirmation.
The initial hype surrounding voice commerce was partly fueled by misinterpretations of broader technological trends. For example, a widely cited prediction from Andrew Ng in 2014 suggested that over 50% of searches would eventually be via voice or image. However, this was a context-specific observation about search behavior in China, not a universal mandate for purchasing behavior worldwide (Fast Company, 2014). Over time, this specific insight morphed into a generalized assumption that voice input would inevitably translate into widespread buying behavior, influencing corporate strategies like Amazon's aggressive push for Alexa-driven commerce.
As the initial excitement waned, the true utility of smart speakers became clearer. They are not the paradigm-shifting shopping disruptors once envisioned, but rather highly useful, albeit limited, tools. The smart speaker has found its niche: a convenient way to manage daily tasks, access information, and enjoy entertainment, with the occasional ability to reorder your favorite paper towels.
