Increase in voice-activated shopping incidents

In a rapidly evolving world, the way consumers make payments and interact with technology is constantly changing. Two key areas that have seen significant growth in recent years are contactless payments and voice technology.

According to previous research from RBR, contactless payments may be contributing to a decline in traditional card-based transactions. This shift is evident in the fact that as of 2019, 68.7% of survey respondents expressed interest in contactless cards due to their convenience. Moreover, 69% of respondents believed contactless cards were faster than inserting chip cards.

The Visa-sponsored PYMNTS.com report suggests a potential decline in card-based payments as more users choose contactless payments. However, the report did not provide specific information about the growth of contactless payment usage in 2019 or the types of contactless cards of interest to consumers.

Meanwhile, voice technology is also making its mark on consumer behaviour. In 2019, 31% of consumers owned voice-enabled devices, marking a more than doubling of ownership in three years. These devices were used during various activities, including shopping, house cleaning, and even while having dinner, according to the PYMNTS.com report. In the U.S., 74.2 million consumers were expected to use smart speakers at least once per month, and 31% of American consumers with voice-enabled devices used the technology to buy goods.

However, using voice technology to order groceries has a way to go before it can offer shoppers a seamless experience. Voice-activated and voice-enabled devices are predicted to play a growing role in e-commerce, with last year's eMarketer report predicting voice commerce through smart speakers would reach $2.1 billion in 2018.

The report also makes a case for why retailers may consider adopting contactless payments for their businesses. As the use of these technologies continues to grow, it is clear that they are becoming an integral part of modern consumer behaviour.

Despite the lack of specific information in the PYMNTS.com report about the types of voice-enabled devices owned by consumers and the total number of survey respondents, the data suggests that these technologies are shaping the way consumers interact with businesses and each other.

In a world where convenience and speed are increasingly valued, it seems that contactless payments and voice technology are here to stay. As these technologies continue to evolve, it will be interesting to see how they further influence consumer behaviour in the future.