Voice search technology such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home and Apple’s Siri threatens to replace brands with automated purchase decisions in which tech companies, not brands or retailers own the customer relationship.

Within 5 years up to 50% of searches in the US will be done using voice.

While this seems something from the future, many of us already use Siri to make calls, tell us the traffic and search queries. It won’t be long until the technology is turning on the oven, and telling us what’s in the fridge/ pantry.

That’s where it gets interesting, voice search will start building shopping lists, recommending recipes and ordering products via their e-commerce offerings (eg. Amazon). The technology will potentially be brand agnostic, with low involvement products treated as commodities and shopping lists built out based on the best price or availability. Eg. In the kitchen, I scream out ‘I’ve run out of butter’, the software will decide which product to add to the shopping list /cart.

UK retailer (Tesco) is nervous about the impact of the technology on grocery buying habits with less foot traffic. It’s definitely a space I’ll be keeping an eye on in the coming months and years, click here to read more.