ne in five consumers in the European Union have shopped using a voice assistant like Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa or a chatbot, a practice that’s set to grow in coming years, according to a study by Mastercard Inc.
So-called conversational commerce, where customers buy products through talking to a device powered by artificial intelligence, will make up $40 billion, or 6 percent, of all online spending in the U.S. by 2022, payments firm Mastercard said in a statement. Research shows 21 percent of EU residents have shopped, 16 percent made payments and 7 percent did banking using voice or text agents.
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The shifting consumer behavior comes as tech giants like Google, Amazon and Apple Inc. race to dominate the smart-speaker market, with e-commerce seen as the next frontier. The rise of making purchases through voice commands is also a further threat to struggling bricks-and-mortar stores, which have been hit by the growth of online shopping.
“Voice offers a unique opportunity for business to deliver faster, easier and more convenient experiences,” said Ann Cairns, vice chairman of New York-based Mastercard.
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