"Alexa, what plants are on sale today and where can I find them?" asks the garden centre visitor at the entrance, whereupon Alexa reads out the current offers and displays them on a greeting screen next to it, along with directions." Doesn't exist? Dreams of the future? Not at all! Everything is already possible. It's no longer just BMW, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Pro7-Galileo that have a Skill, but also bricks-and-mortar retailers. Like Aachen-based HIT Märkte Sütterlin, which is a pioneer in this field in the German food retail sector and has been using Alexa to address customers directly for 1.5 years.
Alexa, Siri & Co. have taken up residence in our living rooms and made themselves at home in our everyday lives. Often criticised for "listening in on everything" and violating our privacy, hotly debated for their usefulness, they have improved massively over the last two years and now respond to calls in millions of households if you don't have a hand free or can't find your smartphone. In the morning, they provide a weather forecast and the day's appointments. When driving, they help you send messages and when cooking, they add new products to your shopping list. Such examples are not revolutionary, but they are changing the way users access digital information and services.
None of the language systems in existence today are perfect - sometimes they don't listen properly, sometimes they don't understand a dialect and they don't always have a meaningful answer ready. But who would have thought eleven years ago, when the first iPhone came onto the market, that it would one day become an important everyday item and a business foundation for countless areas of business. Similar to the smartphone, which is not only found in certain age groups or socio-demographic strata but is truly "omnipresent", the use of voice assistants will also continue to evolve. What we are currently seeing is only a fraction of the overall potential of what voice assistants can do and development is still in its infancy.
Especially in the area of voice systems at the POS. Being there for your customers in the living room with a skill is a first step. Keeping the information up to date is the top priority and the choice of software for data maintenance is by no means secondary. A successful concept for voice control must be well thought out, customised to the customer and "manageable" by the retailer. Clear responsibilities and simple tools for data maintenance are an important prerequisite for this.
The ever-increasing mechanisation of everyday life means that customers accept technology-based services faster and better, and even demand them. It is therefore advisable to be present on the market now with voice assistants and to gain experience of user behaviour with your own skill. Voice assistants and skills are not a topic that will "come one day". There are already more than 6,000 skills in the Amazon Alexa Skill Store in Germany alone. The future is now!
Author: Volker Wissmann, board member and innovator at Online Software AG
If you would like to find out more about mobile solutions in retail and voice assistance at the POS, we recommend the presentation by Volker Wissmann on 20.2.2019 11:20 am in the Omnichannel Forum at EuroCIS (Hall 10/ F 72).